


Nibi

by AyzuLK



Category: Naruto
Genre: Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence, Cute Uzumaki Naruto, F/F, F/M, Fuuinjutsu Master Uzumaki Naruto, Gen, Ghost boy naruto, Ghosts, M/M, NAruto can see the dead, Naruto as the Nibi jinchuuriki, Naruto is a mama boy, Naruto is pyromaniac, Naruto uses the chakra chains, Necromancer NAruto, long hair Naruto
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2020-09-12
Updated: 2020-11-15
Packaged: 2021-03-06 21:14:48
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 11
Words: 23,497
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/26415493
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/AyzuLK/pseuds/AyzuLK
Summary: Every Uchiha has a pyromaniac side, Madara Uchiha wouldn't be an exception.Between choosing to enslave a fox with tails capable of levelling mountains or a giant fire cat, he found himself with a difficult choice.Where Madara uses Nibi instead of Kyuubi in the fight against Hashirama, leading Matatabi to be the bijuu sealed in Mito Uzumaki.Many years later, Naruto Uzumaki has a giant necromancer cat in his belly.They say that it takes a village to raise a child. Naruto has a flock of ghosts in need of therapy, an ANBU with PTSD who knows how to manipulate an order of distancing, an academy sensei who could take over the world and a giant cat who likes to control the dead.
Relationships: Hatake Kakashi & Nohara Rin & Uchiha Obito, Hatake Kakashi & Uzumaki Naruto, Nibi | Two-tails | Matatabi & Uzumaki Naruto, Other Relationship Tags to Be Added, Senju Tobirama & Uzumaki Naruto, Uchiha Izuna & Uzumaki Naruto, Uchiha Shisui & Uzumaki Naruto, Umino Iruka & Uzumaki Naruto, Uzumaki Kushina & Uzumaki Naruto
Comments: 117
Kudos: 603
Collections: Different and interesting stories





	1. Hiruzen sanctions the abandonment of children

**Author's Note:**

  * A translation of [Nibi](https://archiveofourown.org/works/25430572) by [AyzuLK](https://archiveofourown.org/users/AyzuLK/pseuds/AyzuLK). 



> Hi!  
> This is a translation of my work, which has the same Title.  
> The original is in Portuguese and, as you can guess, English is not my native language. If you can help me improve I would be grateful :)  
> I hope you enjoy it!

Tobirama Senju was not at all impressed with Saru at the moment.

In a way, from an administrative point of view, he understood that the situation in question was not easy. The village was on fire, literal and political, after the great attack. The Yondaime was dead, the council wanted blood and they're still at risk of attacks by other villages during the moment of weakness.

Navigating through this mess was a nightmare, but Tobirama thought he had taught Saru better. It went against the very nature to which the village had been created. The function of the village was to take care of their  _ children  _ , sanctioned abandonment of one of them was certainly not included in this.

The clans were blocked from adopting the child. Danzou's request was denied (at least one thing right in this mess). An order of distancing and gagging from everyone who had been friends with his parents was in place, which put little Uzumaki in a difficult situation.

With Tsunade roaming the world, because Saru was too weak to give an ultimatum, and the child's godfather being sent out of the village until otherwise ordered, he would be thrown to the dogs at the orphanage.

An Uzumaki, descendant of Mito, son of a Hokage.

Was Sarutobi stupid? After the board meeting, it was very clear how bad that would be. The secret about the identity of the new jinchuuriki had been leaked (Danzou, in one more of his machinations) and with the village almost having been completely wiped away, they were looking for someone to blame. The ban on disclosure would not help much beyond fermenting hatred. Just because they couldn’t talk about it openly, didn’t stop them from abusing the boy.

Watching the red-haired woman trying to attack Sarutobi (and passing through him without success), he couldn't believe his student would fall into that political trap. In all those years he spent on that plane watching over Sarutobi, he was more and more perplexed seeing how his students were throwing his teachings out the window. Anija had done the right thing to have passed the other side, at least he wouldn't have to see the state of the village he loved so much.

Over the shoulder of his former student (and at the moment disappointment), he watched the child. Only 14 days old and with an immense political weight on his back. Yondaime had had too much faith in the people in the village, and that child would pay for it.

As he watched him, his eyes opened on the tiny face. It had different colours, like the Bijuu he now carried inside him. Tobirama frowned when those heterochromatic eyes stared into his presence, only turning away when the red-haired woman, Kushina Uzumaki, approached again, still cursing Sarutobi, her face in pure stress with her son's situation.

In a few moments, he would be taken to the orphanage, removed from the care of the Sarutobi clan where he had been until then. The mother tried to comfort her son, knowing that what was to come would not be easy.

Tobirama watched a small hand rise, moving, trying to grab a wad of red hair from where he was in Sarutobi's arms, eyes on the face of the dead mother who was talking to him.

Nibi, Bakeneko, was also known as the ghost cat.

Nine months in contact with the necromancer bijuu, and soon after having sealed it in his still developing body, it had, it seemed, an unexpected effect.

Later that night, in a dark room and separated from the other children in the orphanage, a group of ghosts watched helplessly as the little Uzumaki was ignored by the caregivers. Tobirama, having lived his childhood in a period of war with two younger brothers, unfortunately, knew the sound of a child crying from hunger.

More and more ghosts appeared, some curious about the news spreading, others looking anxiously at the door, waiting for someone to finally appear. Tobirama knew that no one would come.

Kushina Uzumaki, with a devastated expression, tried to calm her son while muttering vows of death against several people. Comfort, for the moment, was the only thing she could offer.

At that moment, he realized that little Uzumaki was lucky to see them. If the living were to ignore who at the time was keeping them all safe, for fear and ignorance, the dead would have to serve.

They say that if it takes a village to raise a child. Luckily for little Uzumaki, it doesn't have to be living people.


	2. Kakashi Hatake follows orders, except when they are stupid

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Naruto is a cute pyromaniac and Kushina loves her baby very much.

Kushina watched her son playing with fire in the forest behind the orphanage.

Part of her wanted to resurrect Izuna to kill him again for teaching Katon to a 4-year-old child. _Her child._ His argument that Uchihas learned it at that age was _bullshit._ Everyone knew that that clan was a clan of pyromaniacs, not even sweet Mikoto had escaped it. 

Even more, considering that when Izuna was alive children died in the war before the age of 10, Kushina was sure he was not a good influence on her baby.

Nidaime agreed with her, but Kushina was not sure how much it helped, considering that he was trying to teach Naruto even more destructive jutsus. Because he was a big child and was jealous. 

Naruto, a typical Uzumaki, soon realized that the quickest way to learn things would be to stoke the rivalry between Senju and Uchiha. Which had culminated in a four-year-old child with a tendency to destruction to know the shadow clone Jutsu and an arsenal of worrying fire jutsus.

With a giant fire cat sealed on him, pyromaniac tendencies, a mad scientist as a father, Tobirama Senju at his side (that child's thief) and the creativity the Uzumaki with seals in his genes, her baby had the making of an arsonist.

Kushina was torn between concern and pride. The friendship with Mikoto had influenced her. And Naruto? Naruto was _so cute_ cackling maniacally while setting fire to a deep area of the forest.

"Oka-chan, look! It's blue!"

"It's beautiful, Naru-chan."

Izuna looked satisfied while Nidaime tried to appear indifferent.

Naruto did not show much enthusiasm in _Suiton,_ even though it was a good idea for him to learn how to put out some fires that he caused. 

Some ghosts from Senjus clapped their hands, trying to be supportive, despite the little one pyromaniac's tendencies. 

The few Uchihas around admired the fire with manic looks.

_Uchihas._

Kushina looked at the blue fire destroying a tree to ashes, just relieved that they were well away from the village and no one was seeing it, or Naruto would be dragged back to T&I to check the seal and the influence of the bijuu again.

That had been a tour that none of them wanted Naruto to repeat. They soon learned not to talk to him while someone was around. Luckily, Inoichi and Ibiki had followed the council's order unwillingly. Rather than undergoing an assessment, Naruto had spent more than four hours playing underground with ANBUs and the torture department staff.

That was a good thing because she would have managed to get back to life with Nidaime's Edo Tensei and removed their intestines by their mouth if they had hurt her son.

She already had a long list for that, the old bastards on the council were at the top.

The only good thing is that Naruto soon became a great sensor after that. It was enough for people to think that Naruto was the bijuu because people are stupid like that. If they knew how much he talked to Matatabi, he would be locked in a room with more seals than one could imagine.

Suddenly a Yamanaka ghost ran into the clearing, interrupting Senju and Uchiha's clapping and arguing.

"The clone is gone! The ANBU guard is coming this way!"

Kushina tried to hide while the ghosts started running around like cockroaches, jumping into the bushes and trying to put out the fire.

Until they remembered that they couldn't be seen, they were all dead.

Nidaime looked at them unimpressed with that. 

It was something he did often.

"I'm surrounded by idiots. Naruto, put the fire out."

With a pout, he reluctantly obeyed.

A well-known group of ANBU leapt from the trees and Kushina smiled as she recognized the Hound mask. At least it was Kakashi's group this time.

The ANBU guard was rotary. Most of the time they just stayed at a distance, always watching, never interfering if there was no imminent danger. Murder attempts had been commonplace in the first few months, but after several people were brought up to the torture and interrogation department, they had stopped.

Unfortunately, there were other forms of abuse that did not qualify as what the ANBU needed to intervene.

Kushina hated that.

She counted on her fingers and kept in memory the only ones who went beyond the path to help her son. She could recognize some of them, those who went against orders and allowed themselves to be seen only to hear Naruto chatter so that he would not feel alone among the living.

The ANBU with the Hound mask jumped out of the tree, looking calm despite Naruto having them run in circles all morning following clones.

He looked around at the destruction of the forest.

"Very good, pup."

Another ANBU, wearing a crow mask, whistled appreciatively. She knew it must be an Uchiha just for that.

Naruto smiled from ear to ear with the compliment, vibrating in place as the ANBU tried to clean his face from the soot. Kushina watched the scene, her heart warm and breaking. How many times had she imagined this exact scene when she discovered the pregnancy?

Minato had always loved Kakashi as a son and with time she did too. Seeing him killing himself on missions after Rin's death had been terrible, now it was even worse. Now she couldn't slap him or drag him to their apartment, force him to stay in the hospital, or remind him that he still had a family.

Kushina could only watch while that village tried to destroy the only family that remained for her. She knew that the order of gag and distance would be what would end up pushing Kakashi down the cliff. She was sure that was what would kill Kakashi.

She should have known he would manage to get around the order. When he was not at the jinchuuriki's ANBU guard roundabout, between missions, he always left trinkets in the orphanage room, things that no one else would give to Nibi's jinchuuriki. 

More than once, some of his Ninken had come out of nowhere to check on Naruto. If Kakashi was in the village, they could always feel him around at night. When Naruto was younger, Kakashi's ANBU guard changed his son's diapers more than the orphanage caregivers, who tended to 'forget' that sometimes.

It was sad how the only reason that Naruto had some positive physical contact in the first years of life was through the ninjas with more blood between the hands of the village.

"Hatakes live for the pack." Nidaime stated, his expression unreadable as he watched the ANBU take Naruto in his arms and start returning to the orphanage. Very slowly, he observed. "They were always like that."

Kushina was happy about that. 

They needed each other.

Together her boys would be fine.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Kakashi ignoring the hokage's orders while the ANBU guard pretends they doesn't see it.  
> About the trip at T&I, the orphanage people were scared by Naruto talking to himself and learning things he shouldn't, so it fell on the ears of the council who thought Nibi was influencing him. Inoichi, who was a friend of Minato and Kushina, of course would not question a 4-year-old child. Naruto had a great afternoon playing with assassins and learning about flowers and how to torture someone (Anko, no).
> 
> The ANBU of the crow mask is Shisui. Watch him, he will be very important :)
> 
> And yes, Izuna is here, he will have a chapter too, of course. He is a terrible influence and very proud of it.


	3. Izuna Uchiha learns about co-parenting

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> If someone asked Izuna how he ended up in that situation, he would not be able to explain.

If someone asked Izuna how he ended up in that situation, he would not be able to explain.

What happened was more or less this: Izuna died.

It was very anti-climatic, although he would never admit it. Opening his eyes as a ghost had been a surprise. He stayed around his Anija, seeing the end of the conflicts, the formation of the village and everything going downhill in Madara's life.

Here's what Izuna thought of this situation: Madara would have had been a good Hokage. As Hokage, maybe he would had _chance_. But even if he had helped to create that village, he had never been accepted into it.

In a place where Senjus won the lead, there would be no room for Uchihas. His brother knew that. He knew that the moment Hashirama died and Tobirama took over it would be the end of his clan. Tobirama had never fully accepted Uchihas, something mutual. There was no trust between them, with Madara never forgetting that Tobirama had been the cause of Izuna's death, Tobirama always carrying the image of Itama and Kawarama, the brothers he had helped to raise, as war martyrs.

When he brought this question to the clan, that they should leave the village, the idea was not very well accepted. The clan no longer accepted Madara. There was not much he could do then, chased away by the village and the clan, without family, without Izuna. 

Madara's fall was something Izuna saw first hand.

Izuna was there when he died in the fight against Hashirama. He knew about Madara's Izanagi, how he could rewrite his death and come back to life. Madara would have come back, had it not been for a small, minor detail: Tobirama had burned his body.

[Here's what Izuna didn't know: This act had changed everything. Unknown to everyone, Kuro Zetsu was counting on Madara to develop the rinnegan. With this, he had to go back to the planning board. The revival of Kaguya Ōtsutsuki would be postponed for many generations to come. All because a Senju had put his research aside.].

Then, Madara died. Izuna was waiting for him, for the two of them to finally go together, to wherever it was when it all ended.

Spoiler: Madara didn't want to go. Reason? Hashirama Senju.

Izuna was not at all impressed by his brother. After watching the drama queen haunting Senju for a while, the situation was too ridiculous for Izuna, who decided to look for another place to wander.

Years passed with him watching his clan. Which had survived, contrary to what he had thought and all the measures taken by Nidaime to contain them. Even when the Senju's were reduced to almost nothing, the Uchihas remained. 

And so, he ended up involved in that bizarre situation: Uzumaki co-parenting.

"Izu-nii! Hound left the paper for seal, look it! Oka-chan taught how ..." 

Izuna vaguely remembered that he didn't like Uzumakis before, for their association with Senjus. 

However, he was the first to admire what they could do. There was a reason why they were wiped out and their village destroyed in the war. They were feared not only for their sealing power and longevity but for being unpredictable warriors. An Uzumaki on the battlefield was a sign that the opposite side would be in trouble. Two Uzumakis together could alone decimate a battalion. Izuna could accept this when he was not the enemy. The chaos they caused was an art in itself, and Uchihas could always admire the chaos.

A little well-known fact, though: no Uzumaki was  _ balanced.  _ It was as they said, the more powerful the shinobi, the more insane they would be.

This little Uzumaki was no different.

With a wind affinity and a bijuu with a fire affinity inside him, the little thing could create a Katon capable of levelling part of the forest. With Nibi making him fireproof and a talent for explosive tags, at the age of five, he was a little creature of destruction, even before entering the academy.

It was like seeing a little Madara.

_ It brings me good memories. _

Izuna, of course, had become attached.

"Uchiha." Izuna rolled his eyes at the Senju's disapproval. He was just jealous because Naruto liked him and his Katon best. "How is he going to explain knowing a Jutsu that is a secret of your clan?"

_ Oops. _

"Well, Senju. It wasn't me who taught the firecracker a  _ kinjutsu _ ."

"Kage Bunshin is an explainable jutsu that he could have learned watching the ANBU guard ..."

"Not really."

"... And that Hatake took responsibility for doing it in front of him. The sprout has Uzumaki blood, which descends from Senju so how he learns the jutsus I created is not so difficult to explain. Even more with the scrolls that appear 'suddenly' in his room. "

Izuna did not know how they had believed that. Even if Uzumaki was a genius (knowing the Uzumakis, he would be more a savant), learning a jutsu just by watching it done once was very difficult to swallow.

It was interesting how the ANBU just accepted the oddities around Naruto and moved on, just cleaning up the mess he left behind. 

Even 'forgetting' the scrolls for the child or training when they knew Naruto was around, talking out loud 'by chance' for tips on how to learn basic things. 

The Hatake had been the first, but more than a shinobi, that they knew was from the ANBU guard, would run into their little Uzumaki when he was in the village and started talking when he was around.

It never ceased to be a hilarious sign to see when they did that, breaking the order of the Hokage openly, but taking advantage of a loophole that he couldn't complain about. They were, after all, not talking to Naruto, just close to him, about things that conveniently were useful to him. Such as the date of admission to the academy and the opportunity to use the library when he started.

But also, the people in that village were so stupid. Even though Naruto was the clone of a giant head that they saw every day on the mountain of the Hokage, no one noticed the connection. Even if many knew that Namikaze was fooling around the only Uzumaki in the village. So it was not surprising that they believed that Naruto was learning jutsu by observation before the age of five.

Go figures.

"... irresponsible of ..."

And Senju kept talking. 

At these times Izuna was almost happy to have died young. He wondered if he would have become cranky with age like that. Senju had caused his death and yet he was not as bitter as he was. At least not much of the time, Izuna preferred other forms of revenge.

Like, become the firecracker's favourite.

"Izu-nii, look it!"

_ Sweet Revenge. _

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Kinjutsu are forbidden jutsus. The shadow clone jutsu is an example, its prohibition is due to the danger of the technique, as it requires a lot of chakra and can drain a person with normal reserves quickly and kill him if many clones are made. Naruto does not have this problem because his reserve is monstrous.  
> So, the whole Kaguya plot? Not happening here, this will be a problem for another generation well ahead and it will not be part of the story. Nibi's attack here was someone else's fault (which will be explained later, but it's not very complex at all). So Madara is dead, Obito is also dead, Rin's death happened in a similar way to the canon, just removing Madara's involvement in her. As I said, it is different from the canon, because Tobirama was not a nerd and burned the body. yay.


	4. Naruto has a hard day, but that's okay, he's a cat

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Naruto has a bad day.

Soon Naruto had learned that people _ hated _ his eyes. Whenever they looked at him, there was anger and fear. 

Only much later, when he saw the same eyes on the cat on his belly and heard the story, he understood the  _ why _ . 

Even Hokage-Jiji-sama looked at him oddly when he visited him, always looking away from him after a few seconds.

Naruto pretended that it didn't bother him.

(It didn't hurt him. It didn't!)

Not everyone was like that, some didn't even look at him. 

Naruto liked to pretend that he was invisible at times. He even thought, for a while, of getting attention and trying to be seen, but he soon gave up on the idea. Izu-nii said that being invisible on the battlefield is an advantage and that Naruto was always on the battlefield. He didn't always understand that, but Izu-nii was funny like that.

Cats were quiet too, so there was that. At least if nobody saw him, nobody could catch him or throw anything at him. He had to hide from those, and he also had the bad shadows that appeared from time to time. He had to ride from those too.

At least those were rarer and Tobi-Jiji and Oka-chan always managed to scare them away.

"Not every spirit that stayed on earth is friendly, Sprout."

At five years old, Naruto was a resilient child, nothing put him down. Neither the cold treatment of the caregivers, the punishment not deserved or the contempt of other children. He knew he was loved, oka-chan insisted on reminding him that whenever parents dragged other children away from him in the park. 

Or when someone 'forgot' him locked in his room during dinner, or left him locked out from the orphanage when he returned from a walk in the village.

Tobi-Jiji and Izu-nii never lost patience with him or made him feel stupid as the orphanage tutor, who was supposed to teach children to read and write, but said that Naruto was too stupid to learn. 

It wasn't true, Naruto knew it wasn't true, Tobi-Jiji had taught Naruto and Naruto knew how to read better than anyone, oka-chan said so and oka-chan never lied.

So it didn't matter that nobody wanted to play with him at the orphanage or that he never felt safe in the village because Naruto was not alone. He had oka-chan, Tobi-Jiji, Izu-nii and the others who always came and saw him. They protected Naruto from others, from those shadows that wanted to hurt Naruto like the people in the village. 

He also had Hound-nii (his most favourite person alive), Crow, Cat and Bear, who protected Naruto from the living. And he had Hokage-Jiji-sama, who despite not being able to look at Naruto, hugged him whenever he came to see him. 

That was a lot of people, so what if no child wanted to play with him or the other adults try to attack him whenever they thought he was alone? Naruto was fine.

(He wasn't fine, not really. Not all the time. But that's okay.)

Naruto also had Neko-chan, who lived inside his belly. She was a blue fire cat with eyes like Naruto's, so it could only mean they were family, right? Naruto didn't have a lot of those, so Neko-chan was special. 

Neko-chan's voice was soft and calm and her fire was hot, but it never burned Naruto, so when it was cold in the orphanage Naruto could close his eyes and visit Neko-chan and curl up close until he could sleep. 

Neko-chan told the best stories too, but Naruto couldn't say that, or Tobi-Jiji would be sad.

Naruto didn't care that people didn't like him for Neko-chan, because they didn't know Neko-chan as Naruto did.

Naruto, after all, he had no reason to complain, right? He even managed to go to the ninja academy earlier than the others! Oka-chan said that five years was two years earlier than anyone, but Naruto knew from the ghosts that walked with Hound-nii (there were 3, and Naruto liked them) that he had graduated from the academy at Naruto's age, so Naruto was behind and not ahead.

"Kakashi is not a pattern to mirror, Naru-chan. He is an exception and an example of the reason that this is not a good idea!"

Anyway. Naruto would go to the academy! He had spent weeks organizing and studying and he hadn't even slept properly. Magic things appeared in his room too, the things he would need, oka-chan said.

"Ah, Kakashi ..."

Naruto hid them because sometimes his things would disappear from his room and end up with the other children. Naruto had learned to never complain when it happened to the caregivers, or they would take the rest too, so he hid the most important things in his hiding place in the forest behind the orphanage, with the seals that oka-chan had taught him.

Naruto was very happy about the academy.

So on the first day, he couldn't help himself. Accompanied by his oka-chan and the others at the ceremony, he didn't even care that no one else could see that he wasn't alone, or that Hound-nii wasn't in the village.

It was his day of  _ glory. _

So, he couldn't understand how everything could have gone wrong.

The instructors did not like Naruto and never answered anything he asked. Naruto was sent out when he answered something and the children hated him for whatever reason.

At the end of the day, with a mark on his face where Haru-Sensei had hit him when he spoke without raising his hand and having all his expectations frustrated, Naruto found himself uncertain if he wanted to go back there.

Upon returning to the orphanage, trying to hold back tears while his oka-chan and Izu-nii did not know what to say (Tobi-Jiji was very angry and had disappeared halfway to do something), Naruto just wanted to arrive before getting dark.

It was never safe to stay on the street at night. Naruto knew it, he lived there for months when he ran away from the orphanage once.

So when he arrived at the orphanage and found his things at the door, he knew that this  _ really  _ wasn't his day.

Apparently, after he started at the academy, according to Hajime-san who had appeared when he called and called for a long time, they were no longer obligated to stay with him at the orphanage.

Naruto had been kicked out, officially.

At least after that, he would get an apartment just for him! Naruto should be grateful for that, his things would not disappear anymore. Naruto would be fine. He had nothing to complain about, right? At least he was alive, a lot of people he knew were not.

Naruto would be fine. He was not alone.

"Firecracker ..."

Naruto was a cat, as Neko-chan used to say. He was her kitten.

Cats knew how to survive. He would be fine.

Naruto was a cat.

Naruto was a cat.

Cats had seven lives, right? He would be fine.

"I'm all drenched, oka-chan."

"Oh, Naru-chan ... Come on, let's get out of this rain."

"Okay."

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> And that was depressing ... But don't be afraid! In the next one, Hound-nii comes to the rescue (very pissed off) and things start to get better.  
> Naruto's treatment here will be a little worse than in the canon, because his eyes are evidence for many people that he can only be the nibi. People are stupid like that. Even Sandaime is a little nervous looking at him.  
> [Note, Naruto has heterochromatic eyes like Matatabi, one blue like canon and the other golden yellow. This is the mark of the exposore in the womb with the bijuu, just as in the canon he had kurama whiskers. So here, he has heterochromia, but he doesn't have whiskers. His eyes are important!]   
> Here is little Naruto: https://aeronocacto.tumblr.com/post/623678152648130560/nibi-onde-naruto-%C3%A9-o-jinchuuriki-da-matatabi-e-ao
> 
> The entrance to the academy, from what I learned, changes in times of peace or war. In times of peace, unless you are very talented and receive permission, you enter when you're between 7 or 8 years old. As an orphan, Naruto is allowed to enter early, but as he repeated a few times he ended up with children his age anyway, or so I am speculating.


	5. Tobirama reflects his decisions and decides that his students are a disappointment

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> When even after death you can't have a momment of peace.

Tobirama has always been good at politics. Certainly better than his brother, whose sole purpose was to try to appease everyone. There was a good reason why Tobirama had been his advisor, or everyone would pass over Hashirama.

Because he was good at politics, he could smell a power game from afar. He had witnessed the dance between Danzou and Saru for years, perplexed at how much Saru let himself be pushed by sentimentality. 

He did not regret having chosen Sarutobi as his successor, considering the tremendous disaster that would have been Danzou with his hands in power. If he managed to do this damage through the shadows, Tobirama did not doubt that if Danzou were Hokage, they would still be in the third ninja war to this day.

Oh, he did not doubt that his student thought he was doing the best for the village or tried to convince himself of it often. He certainly managed to be convincing, considering he had so many board members in his pocket and kept playing with Sarutobi for years. 

However, Tobirama knew someone with a thirst for power and control. He had seen it in Danzou from the beginning. He should have known that with the blow of not being Hokage, the situation would only get worse.

His involvement with Orochimaru was one example. 

(Another one of Saru's mistakes. He should never have let that snake run away. That mistake would return to bite him.),

Also, his hands were in other villages affairs, and he had an organization that had been abandoned, but still existed in the shadows of the village, with a vile teaching method.

And there was more because Tobirama only knew that Danzou had some involvement with what had happened the night that Kushina gave birth and Nibi was released. Danzou had always pushed for the jinchuuriki to be trained as a weapon, but Kushina was out of his hands. Danzou also wanted the position of Hokage, who had gone to Namikaze. The fault of the accident had gone to the weakening of the seal during the baby delivery.

There were rumours that someone with Sharingan had controlled the beast after it escaped and was released in the village.

At the end of the incident, Yondaime was dead, Kushina had died, and there was a new jinchuuriki that could be moulded. The blame had gone to the Uchihas, who had been pushed into the district in the village. The rumours were only getting worse every day. 

Tobirama still did not know for sure the motivation for the latter, what Danzou wanted with that, but he knew who was fueling the rumours, the same person who would most benefit from all this: Danzou.

With all of Saru's faults, he at least stopped two of those goals. Sarutobi had returned to the post before Danzou could throw his name into the nomination and Naruto had been denied him, even though the consequent isolation of that political game made him livid. The situation with the Uchihas only got worse, and Tobirama did not doubt that there would be a disastrous consequence for that.

Tobirama had never been particularly happy with this clan. Many of his policies were created to appease and contain the Uchihas in the village. He had given them to the police force to make them feel important, but put them on par with the other clans on the council, even though they were a founding clan. The academy's curriculum had been created to put the generation on the ground just like the others. The opinions held to make it more unlikely that an Uchiha would rise too high in power.

Maybe he was wrong. Perhaps his distrust had created the problem with Danzou in the first place. Perhaps, he should have considered Kagami, an Uchiha who he respected more than anyone, for Hokage. 

At that point, it was too late to think about it; the consequences were more urgent.

And the fact that Danzou was again making his move on the board.

It was so obvious that most of the clan heads had noticed.

Naruto had entered the academy when Danzou wanted him in his game. In that tug of war, Sarutobi had the advantage. Naruto was the responsibility of the Hokage, even though he did not handle that responsibility as he should.

Suddenly, the council put in the agenda that with the sprout entering the academy, the ANBU guard had become unnecessary. They could not waste power when he was safe in the village now, since he would spend a good deal of time surrounded by instructors and learning to defend himself. The village's defences were excellent too, no one would dare enter after the incident with the Hyuugas and Kumo.

Tobirama wanted to laugh about it. Or to destroy those idiots who thought Nibi's jinchuuriki was safe inside the village when most of the attacks in recent years had been from the civilians.

Worst of all, he had had enough votes for this disgrace to be accepted, even with Sarutobi against it.

And now Naruto was without the ANBU guard. Hatake and Kagami's descendant, the two who often kept an eye on the sprout, were on a mission outside the village. Naruto was suddenly kicked out from the orphanage without warning, and this coincided with the arrival of the festival that marked the anniversary date of Nibi's attack in a few days. A time when people were most furious with the jinchuuriki and lost their heads over mourning.

Tobirama had noticed some of Danzou's ANBUs around the village. The scene in his head was drawn before the ghosts even came to warn what was going on. It would be a good idea to keep the sprout well away from the centre of the village for a few days.

The idea was for the sprout to go to the Hokage tower to warn that he could not enter the orphanage, but he was denied entry by a shinobi at the desk. Tobirama recognized him as one of the ones that Danzou had in his pocket and not the usual guards. 

With the two people who Sprout trusted to help, out of the village, even against their will, the little one decided he would go to the red light district.

The place was terrible, where all the Konoha garbage would end up, but maybe that's why it was the only place where sprout wasn't treated so terribly. The outcasts look after the outcasts, and even though he was ignored by almost everyone there, at least no one tried to hurt him.

Once in a while, when he was locked out of the orphanage for being late, the girls in one of the brothels harboured Sprout. They seemed to like him, teaching him how to defend himself. It would be funny if it wasn't sad how prostitutes treated him better than the orphanage caregivers.

This, of course, had generated absolute devotion for the child whose number of people among the living who treated him as a person was so limited.

However, with the village in turmoil, it was not safe for him to cross all the way there. People had been warned that the jinchuuriki was without guard and had nowhere to go, something that only someone inside the board meeting would know. The civilian adviser, probably. He was also one of Danzou's most visible pawns and the same who had spread Naruto's identity years ago.

"They are waiting." The ghost Yamanaka warned, while others appeared where they were behind the orphanage's forest. "It's not safe."

The jinchuuriki attacked in the village, with no guard around, would be a disaster. Tobirama was sure that Danzou's ANBUs were just there to make sure he wasn't killed; it would be wasteful to risk Nibi breaking free.

With the attack, Danzou would have a strong enough argument to pull permission to have the child on his guard, just in case. He would win the jinchuuriki to be trained as he wanted, and Sarutobi could not prevent it.

Of course, Tobirama did not doubt that if that happened, Hatake would lose his head and freak out for good.

He would never allow the child he considered family to be used by Danzou or anyone, and sprout was the only thing that kept him sane at the moment. Hatake was also strong enough to go out and destroy everything on the way to save Naruto, which despite being something he admitted a little he wanted to see, would also be a disaster for the village.

If that happened, by the end of the week, they would have several deaths, and the strongest shinobi in the village today, except for the Hokage, as a Nukenin. And they would lose the jinchuuriki, because Kakashi would take him and run, leaving the body of one of the councillors behind.

The last part at that point he didn't even care, as long as the ghost didn't decide to disturb his sprout later, but the rest he would like to avoid. A fugitive life was not a life he would wish for Naruto.

So the solution was for Sprout to find a place to take shelter that would keep him safe until Sarutobi saw what was going on or Hatake would return and put in the appropriate terror that would make those involved retreat. Even Danzou had enough sense not to get involved with Hatake, considering what had happened the last time he tried.

His Anija's playground seemed the most suitable choice. Nobody from the village would go there.

"For good reason, Nidaime. The name is not a forest of death for nothing."

Kushina looked at him venomously, the title coming out with disrespect. Tobirama knew enough of Uzumaki women to consider the threat implied, even if the two were dead.

You never knew with an Uzumaki.

"The animals are not going to attack him. They fear the bijuu inside him. It is not the first time he has gone there either."

"For a few hours, not for days. He's going to have to sleep there." It was curious to notice the Uchiha worried about someone who was not an Uchiha. Tobirama kept that to think about later.

"It's going to be okay, oka-chan." The little voice stepped in, with confidence that Tobirama knew did not assure them of anything. Sprout did not have a good instinct for self-preservation.

However, Tobirama would stick to his idea. He knew it was the best solution.

"He stays out of the centre. We are not going to let anything attack him."

It was clear that the woman was not happy. The despair was clear on her face. Tobirama could only imagine how she was feeling. Physically, they couldn't do anything to help.

"They are approaching." One of the ghosts warned, entering the clearing. "There's shinobi in the middle. If you're going to get him out of here, it has to be now."

"Naruto ..." The woman knelt, her hand almost transparent around her son's very pale face. "I'm sorry. Oka-chan is sorry. You're going to have to be strong now, okay? Don't be afraid."

Sprout smiled, despite being soaked, at the moment homeless and in imminent risk, with the only way out being to enter one of the most dangerous places in Konoha.

"I'm not afraid, oka-chan."

Worst of all, Tobirama knew that he was probably telling the truth.

A person who befriended monsters was not afraid of much. Naruto's friends were too scary.

Tobirama has never been more proud of someone than at that moment.

"Come on, sprout. It's time to run."

Flanked by the dead, without a hint of hesitation, Naruto Uzumaki disappeared into the forest, the storm erasing his trail along the way.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> The headcanon is that Hashirama created the entire forest of death with mokotun. Due to the nature chakra involved in the creation, the animals there grow up gigantic too and are smarter than normal. Hashirama, of course, used to hang out there to pass the time, because he is one of those, so that's why Tobirama calls it his playground.  
> Of course, Naruto would love the place too: there are giant cats there. Yay.  
> No Kakashi here yet, just next time!  
> Yes, I hate Danzou too. At some point after Minato's death, Danzou tried to put Kakashi at Root. As a result, Kakashi spied on him and even removed Yamato from Danzou's power. At the same time, Danzou tried to assassinate Sarutobi, but because Kakashi was involved he was unable to do so. Sarutobi, for a change, did not kill Danzou for treason for that. Go figure.  
> The fact is that Danzou has a certain ... care around Kakashi. One of the reasons he expected Kakashi to be out of the village to make this risky move.  
> Of course, he didn't count on ghosts on his way.


	6. Sarutobi misses his retirement

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Hiruzen knew that he was no longer what the village needed, but until he got someone better, he was what they had.  
> It didn't make it any easier to see the consequences of it on his face.

Hiruzen, like any Shinobi, never imagined that he would live this long. The life of a shinobi was like an intense and brief flame; they were destined to perish in battle and leave their legacy to the next generation.

Hiruzen was someone out of the curve, an anomaly, like few, who managed to reach old age. People said that the more powerful the Shinobi, the greater their chances of survival, that it should be proof of his power. 

Hiruzen did not believe it.

What Hiruzen believed was that he was there because of the sacrifice of other people: Tobirama-Sensei, who had sacrificed himself so that his students could escape, Minato, so young, who had given his life to save the village, going out as a flame ahead of time.

Hiruzen often thought that he should have died in Minato's place. He would be with Biwako now, and the village would have the leader it needed, but regretting the past did not change the present. And the gift was that Hiruzen was tired. He was past his time, that hat shouldn't be on his head anymore. Danzou, Orochimaru, the whole scene after Nibi's attack, each wrong choice kept him up at night.

Hiruzen knew that he was no longer what the village needed, but until he got someone better, he was what they had.

It didn't make it any easier to see the consequences of it on his face.

Kakashi-kun, in his ANBU uniform, was still with the same bloodstains that he had brought when he returned from the mission hours earlier. 

He was staring at him behind the mask in silent judgment. The body tense and ready to attack anyone who approaches with bad intentions, even the village leader.

In his arms, with wide multi colored eyes and an equally tense body was the reason for all this. Hiruzen briefly looked at the pale face before looking away, feeling the shame taking him with the feeling of discomfort when looking at the child and seeing something he knew, deep down he  _ knew _ , that was not true.

It was too easy to look him in the eye and see the bijuu that set the village on fire five years ago. Touch the skin, always hotter than most, and listen to superstitions. 

It was brief, only until he saw Kushina Uzumaki's face, Minato's colours. See the child there and not the bijuu. 

It was brief, but it didn't make him any less ashamed.

"Hound, report the situation."

"Twenty people are on T&I at the moment, six of them Shinobi." 

Hiruzen sighed. He would need to change practically all caregivers at the orphanage after that. He was sure he would have reports from others about how Kakashi had made the arrest, it was a miracle that he didn't kill anyone. He had found the problem and solved it quickly. 

A problem that Hiruzen had not even realized existed until hours ago.

Naruto had been absent from the academy for two days, but that also hadn't reached his ears. He would need a reassessment of the shinobis in the tower. 

He needed to find out how the situation had not reached him until Kakashi returned to the village and placed all his Ninkens to find the trail of those responsible and Naruto.

For a brief moment that night, during the period when the ANBU noticed Naruto's absence from the village upon arriving until he returned with him, Hiruzen had a glimpse of what would happen if something happened to the child.

Kakashi, at the time, was one of the most dangerous shinobi in the village. He tried to deceive himself, but deep down, Hiruzen knew that the ANBU's loyalty was only in the village while Naruto was in it. With the way the child was treated, they were walking a tightrope in a dangerous dance.

Kakashi was unstable and powerful, a dangerous combination. Someone who had lost everything, except for that brief lifeline.

He was another regret on Hiruzen's back.

"And where did you find him?"

The captain ANBU's stance became even tenser, the killing intent present. Hiruzen noticed some of his ANBU guard taking a stand, fearing an attack, but soon it was gone.

"In the Forty-Fourth Training Zone." Hiruzen's eyes widened briefly. The child's nudge on-demand and Kakashi lowered his head, receiving a whisper. Despite the situation, Hiruzen saw his eyes soften with the scene. "He was ... camping with Haru."

"Haru?"

"I believe it is the giant tiger I found sleeping with him."

Hiruzen dropped his pipe.

The child quickly nodded in agreement, looking calm despite the two days sleeping in the forest of death. 

Except for looking sooty (and Hiruzen was afraid to know how it happened), he looked content, playing with the collar of Kakashi's shirt and looking around the room with interest. 

His eyes wandered and stopped in the air at times ( something he did frequently according to his guard), until they went, curiously, to the areas where the ANBU were hiding with worrying accuracy.

_ "A natural tracker, perhaps. Typical of Uzumakis." _

His eyes stopped on Hiruzen, and he struggled to avoid them, noticing Kakashi's disapproval from a distance when he saw this.

"Ano sa, Hokage-Jiji-sama, do I need to go back to the orphanage?"

"No." Kakashi replied before he could say anything, hugging the child more tightly to his chest. "You won't."

It was not within Kakashi's jurisdiction to demand this, and Hiruzen should impose his authority at the moment. Kakashi shouldn't even be in contact with Naruto, and the fact that he noticed his absence so quickly and how the child was attached to him said how much he was ignoring that order in some way. 

It was dangerous, extremely dangerous. Kakashi was Minato's last student, if someone noticed his contact with a child who looked so much like Yondaime, it wouldn't be too difficult to connect the dots, and each of his enemies would be knocking on Konoha's door seeking revenge. Considering that Minato had destroyed battalions of Iwa during the third war, these were many and dangerous.

However, Hiruzen that night thanked him for ignoring his order. Naruto had spent two days in the forest of death because he felt safer there than in the village. Because he was being hunted, like an animal, in the place where he should be most protected. 

Hiruzen could look away for disobedience for that, but he couldn't make it too obvious. Kakashi was smart; he would know how to dodge orders once again without putting Naruto in danger.

"No, Naruto-kun. It was something that was already on my mind, with your entry into the academy. The  _ situation _ just accelerated the plans."

The little boy looked at nothing again for a brief moment, confused, before looking back at Hiruzen.

"And where am I going to live?"

Sandaime saw the hopeful look that the little boy gave to ANBU who was carrying him. He could feel the weight of Kakashi's gaze too, his silent and almost desperate request at the moment.

A request that he could not yield.

"In an apartment. I already have a place in mind, tomorrow we will solve everything, and you can move."

"Alone?"

One more look at Kakashi, who squeezed the little boy tighter. The tone of his voice made him feel ten years older.

Hiruzen sighed, looking at the ANBU.

"You know the situation, Hound."

"He's five years old."

"And I'm going to put someone with him for a while to help him, of course."

"Someone?" The little boy caught his eye, dissatisfied with being ignored with something that concerned himself. "Hound?"

"No, Naruto-kun. Hound has other things to do." Hiruzen looked at the ANBU steadily. "And that, it's an order from your Hokage. I don't need to remember what's at stake here. Understood?"

Naruto's face fell, and he hid it in the ANBU's neck. Kakashi tensed again, every muscle in his body showing how much he was against it.

Hiruzen did not look away from him, putting the weight of the order more clearly.

He didn't want to be the villain there, but he would be if necessary.

"Yes, Hokage-sama."

"Good. You can hand Naruto over to Tiger until the situation of the apartment is solved. Tomorrow he will stay with me. You're free to go, in two days you will return to receive the next mission."

When the other ANBU approached, Hiruzen thought for a brief moment that Kakashi would attack. Removing the child's grip was also a problem, and in another situation, he would have been impressed, because he was sure that Naruto had used chakra to stick himself in Kakashi.

At the end of the situation, Hiruzen felt even more exhausted and a terrible human being.

He watched Naruto asleep in his lap hours later, the soot marks making obvious the tears tracks that the situation had generated.

It shouldn't have happened.

The next day, he would have missions to got Kakashi out of the village for a long time while he would locate Naruto in the new apartment. It was not something that Minato would want for his son, and his successor's eyes judged him from the wall. 

Kushina, of course, would have taken out his liver with all the way he handled the situation that night.

He sighed, stroking the blond hair of the Yondaime's legacy, letting the affection he felt show at that moment, thinking about Konohamaru. 

Had it been his grandson in this situation, surely Minato would have made a better decision.

Hiruzen felt an icy breeze on his back that made him shiver, a feeling, a weight taking him for a moment. 

He stood up and hugged Naruto closer, receiving the heat beyond the normal he exuded. He fixed the little boy better, an apology coming out low. 

For some reason, his eyes went to Tobirama-sensei's picture at that moment.

Somehow he knew that his sensei was not happy with him either.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Tobirama and Kushina around Sarutobi's chair, killing him with their eyes.  
> And next, Naruto makes a new friend!  
> Shisui enters the scene.


	7. Shisui Uchiha is adopted by a little Seance

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Shisui: Hokage orders? I don't know her.  
> Or the chapter where Shisui is adopted by an Uzumaki and some ghosts. Yay!

Shisui was a different Uchiha in many ways. He loved his family, but he was the first to admit that they had problems that needed to be worked on. Extreme pride was one of them, this led them to pull their children to the limit and beyond.

Shisui was thinking about Itachi. At the age of nine and already with the weight of the world on his back. His cousin was a pacifist, he never even wanted to be a shinobi, but he never had a choice. 

Then there was little Sasuke, who was already beginning to feel what it was like to be compared to his beloved brother. Sasuke was a smart child, without a doubt, above the ordinary, but nothing compared to what Itachi was: a genius who only appeared one or two in each generation.

The comparison was cruel, and Shisui feared what it would do to the two brothers over time.

Shisui? Shisui did not have a childhood for long. He experienced war and death on the battlefield very early and never had a chance to choose anything else in his life.

Just like the little jinchuuriki would never have.

Shisui landed on the branch of the tree, watching curiously what he was doing. There was a basket of freshly caught fish bigger than him in his arms. There was a small, clear field in the clearing, with a basket of herbs and fruit picked and wood line for a fire.

The shinobi looked towards the village. 

Shisui was returning from a mission and had to report to the tower and the Captain ANBU, but seeing that little human alone in the forest, so close to the Nara territory, was even more urgent.

He sat on the branch, watching the little one separate the fish and start treating them carefully with a very sharp kunai. Shisui had spent a few weeks on a mission, but he remembered that when he left the village, there was a shinobi, an ANBU, helping the little Uzumaki to acclimate to living alone. 

If it were any other shinobi, he would have thought he had left the unjust anger in the path of the mission, but Shisui knew that Genma had been chosen. Genma, who had been an ANBU of Minato's guard, which Shisui knew, even though nobody had ever told him, that could only be the father of the little boy.

Genma would have taught the little one well, more than he had even been ordered to. He always followed Kakashi-senpai in disobeying the distancing order and covering for him when that happened.

So Shisui couldn't understand why the little boy was in the middle of the forest, capturing and preparing his dinner. He had run into Genma on the mission, so he knew he had been sent out of the village already, but he had undoubtedly left the little boy ready to do his best. If not for the respect he had for his parents, for the certainty that Kakashi-senpai would not be happy at all if he did not do this.

Shisui had been one of those who had offered to help, but being an Uchiha, who was under suspicion still in the village, he had not had a chance to be near the jinchuuriki alone. Putting on the rotating guard had been the most the Hokage had done, in good faith and to try to calm the waters between the village and the clan.

It hadn't worked, of course.

Shisui found himself at an impasse at the moment. Even though he was still on ANBU service, an Uchiha interacting unsupervised with the jinchuuriki would cause problems for the clan, but Shisui couldn't just turn his back and leave. Nobody deserves to be alone like that. There was something very wrong with a five-year-old child, who was not even a shinobi yet, in this situation.

_ "He looks sad." _

Shisui was never one to obey orders without a good justification.

With a sigh, he prepared to go down and offer to light the fire, but it was not necessary.

"Katon: Tanebi no Jutsu."

This made him pause and crouch again, curious. He watched big eyes staring at the fire, with a glow that he could recognize well, being from the clan he was. 

It was a basic fire jutsu, taught very early in the Uchiha clan, but for a child outside the clan, who had recently started the academy, it was a curious thing to know.

Until then, he had thought that the explosions were caused by explosive tags. Seals were in the Uzumaki blood, and Shisui knew that Kakashi had taught the child one thing or another, but it seemed that this was not the case.

It was not surprising, after all, he had learned an advanced version of clones, but everyone had thought that Kakashi-senpai had taught him.

The little boy put the fish on the fire, starting to throw something into a cauldron. Shisui tensed, ready to interfere because he was too close to the fire, but the little boy didn't even bother with the flames.

Shisui smiled when he sat nearby with a small contented sound, nudging the flames with a stick. The big, colourful eyes looked fascinated with the flames, a smile stretching his round cheeks.

_ "Pyromaniac." _ Shisui thought, terribly affectionate.  _ "Itachi can't hear it, but this little one is way cuter than Sasuke." _

"Do you want some?"

The sudden little voice almost made him fall from the tree. Shisui held his breath, trying to detect anyone else nearby who he would have missed.

Unlikely.

_ "Did he notice me? From the beginning?" _

Big eyes stared at him in the foliage, blinking in curiosity, waiting for an answer.

_ "Well, this is unexpected." _

Uzumakis were natural sensors.

And that little Uzumaki was a box of surprises, he realized.

Shisui jumped from the tree, moving slowly so as not to startle him.

He shouldn't have to worry about that. One thing he had noticed as his guard, was that the little Uzumaki didn't seem to fear much. And that was a big problem.

"Hi, crow."

The tone, terribly timid, made Shisui control himself not to pinch the round cheeks in front of him. Now he understood Itachi.

"Naruto-kun. What are you doing here alone?"

The little boy blinked and then aimed the fire. "Dinner."

This time Shisui couldn't help laughing with the child's obvious tone.

Shisui sat carefully beside the little Uzumaki and received a big smile as a reward, while fish were placed and removed at the fire.

He offered one to him. Shisui shouldn't remove his mask in front of anyone, not even a little bit. 

He looked from the fish to the child's expression and shrugged. What was another broken rule? He had already approached the jinchuuriki, talked to him, did not go straight to the tower when he finished the mission to report.

Shisui, at that moment, realized that he was discovering his weakness in life, in addition to Itachi.

He raised his mask a little, leaving his mouth out, ready to eat with a smile, even if it was bad. 

But it wasn't. It was delicious. 

__ Genma had taught him well.

"Why aren't you making dinner at home?"

The little boy stirred the cauldron, looking inside.

"There's nothing at home, so I came to get it."

Shisui paused on a bite of the second fish.

He was sure the Hokage had said that money would be given weekly to the little boy, for shopping and other expenses. Usually, orphans outside clans who left the orphanage earlier had a living allowance. It wasn't much, but it did exist.

Genma had left the cabinets full, he was sure, because he was a first-rate mother even within the ANBU. Two weeks was long enough for him to need groceries, but there was still the money.

"Don't you have any money?"

"No. I mean, I have. It is not..." The little boy paused for a second. Shisui thought he wouldn't say anything else and saw him anxiously biting his lip, looking at nothing. He did that a lot.

The small shoulders fell, and he looked at him uncomfortably.

"Nobody wants to sell me anything."

Shisui instantly lost his hunger.

Of course, that would happen. In retrospect, it was obvious. Civilians were not obliged to sell to those they did not want. Could Naruto even enter the stores? Shisui doubted.

"One of them sold something." The little boy continued, poking the fire. "But it was bad."

Shisui closed his eyes.

"Bad?"

He nodded, returning to sit next to him, munching a fish and too happy despite the situation.

"It smelled bad. Cat-nii taught me to see when food gets bad."

"Did they sell you spoiled food?"

He loved Konoha, but sometimes he hated the people there.

"It's okay! I know how to get my food."

No, it wasn't all right. It was far from it.

"They can't do that, Naruto-kun."

A shrug was the answer. They would do it anyway, and he knew it. People could be cruel. He knew there were stores he would be welcome in, from people who knew Naruto's origin or who were not stupid to discount unjust anger at a child.

Shisui looked into the heterochromatic eyes, wondering how anyone could look at Naruto and see the bijuu for that.

Naruto was a strange child. He talked to himself, and the air seemed stranger near him, colder. He had an unhealthy obsession with fire, and he loved explosions  _ too  _ much. He was also the cutest child Shisui has ever met and so painfully  _ alone _ . 

He could understand Kakashi-senpai.

Naruto was precious and didn't deserve what they did to him. Nobody deserved it.

"The fish is delicious. You cook very well."

A smile stretched his very round cheeks. Shisui ruffled his shaggy, leafy hair and laughed when he felt him rubbing his little face in his hand with affection.

Shisui felt a cold chill at his side, but there was nothing there.

.................................................. .........

The other day, Shisui jumped in a small apartment window. 

It was in a less prosperous area of the city. He had noticed the night before when taking a Naruto almost asleep, that the whole block was abandoned.

People had moved out when they saw that the jinchuuriki lived there. Shisui was disgusted by the people of that village at times.

Shisui opened the window, disarming the traps. He noticed seals there too. He had noticed others at the door when he entered the night before. It wouldn't stop a shinobi, but it was effective against civilians.

And he was curious about that. Naruto was better at seals than they all realized.

He jumped in, knowing that Naruto would be at the academy at that time. He loaded the groceries and started putting them in the cupboard and the small refrigerator. He noticed a small stool on the stove. For the little one to reach it, no doubt.

There were plants around the house, and he noticed a small vegetable garden in progress near the window, a makeshift greenhouse. 

It was sad that someone of that age was so good at surviving.

Shisui looked around, curious, without any shame, making notes of what else he would need. He was sure that when Kakashi-senpai arrived in the village the problems of new clothes would be solved, as he had done at the orphanage, but he would look with Aunt Mikoto if she still had old Sasuke clothes. Naruto was smaller than his cousin, and he could always remove the clan symbol. 

And being Naruto, Mikoto would be more than happy to help.

He stopped at the table and saw an open book about seals. He had seen it before, in the hands of Kakashi-senpai. There were other scrolls scattered there, with kata and jutsu. And a book on the history of Konoha. They were shabby and used, one or the other brand new.

All had footnotes.

Shisui laughed. That explained the knowledge about the seals, yet it was impressive, learning from books and alone was not for everyone. It also explained the times when he saw Kakashi-senpai leave his room in the ANBU quarters with a box of books in hand.

Shisui returned to the window, re-setting the traps.

He felt an icy shiver and looked around, leaving quickly.

.......................................

The third time he went shopping, he found a pot with a cactus on the table, a thank you note in crooked calligraphy and money to pay for the expenses.

Shisui ignored the money. He lived alone and earned more than enough on missions. He took the plant and named it "Kagami the Great."

When he told Itachi, his cousin rolled his eyes.

He was just jealous because Shisui had found a mini-fan too, and he was cuter than Sasuke.

...........................................

The fifth time he ignored the money, there were another plant and an invitation to dinner.

Shisui, of course, readily accepted.

Itachi seemed afraid of the repercussions if anyone found out, with all the Uchiha drama going on.

"You are jealous because he asked me to dinner."

Shisui had to run, but it was worth it.

Dinners became weekly affairs when he was in the village.

...........................................

Shisui noticed that sometimes the cupboards were already full.

It consisted with new books appearing and Kakashi-senpai returning to the village.

Kakashi-senpai now owned a plant called Mr Ukki in the quarters. Shisui knew that he should know about him too if the cautious looks he had received were anything in the early days.

After a few weeks, they were gone. As he was alive, he must have proved good intentions.

Neither spoke about it, but when he left Sasuke's old clothes in his quarters when he returned, they were gone.

Later he saw Naruto wearing them, with the Uzumaki symbol proudly on his back.

.................................................. ....

When Naruto turned six, Shisui removed his mask and introduced himself. He was already screwed even if they found out, so he didn't care. 

Naruto didn't seem too surprised that he was an Uchiha and Shisui didn't know what to think about it, but like all the oddities about Naruto, he just accepted and moved on.

He was good at that.

Shisui felt a weight on his shoulder as if someone had put his hand there. He knew that if he looked, there would be nothing there.

An icy shiver ran down his spine.

Naruto looked at a point behind Shisui, before returning to chattering about plants, separating a plate and placing it near the window. For Kakashi-senpai, probably. He had noticed the other ANBU in a tree by the window, watching them.

Shisui thought about his last mission when he felt the same shiver down his spine. A warning that served to deflect an attack. At that moment, he understood it as a warning that saved his life.

Shisui breathed slowly in surprise. He was sure he had seen a plant move on its own seconds before.

Shisui looked at the plate, ignoring when it moved again.

The curry that Naruto made was divine. Genma had taught him recently. It seemed that nobody was taking the Hokages orders seriously. And it was great! 

No one would snitch about him if they were breaking the law too.

A cold wind ruffled his hair in a caress.

" The Curry is wonderful, Naru-chan."

"Really!?"

The cutest kid ever. Shisui was lucky.

His plate moved on its own. Shisui held it.

He would make Itachi jealous when he returned from his mission, no doubt.

  
  
  


**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Don't worry, Shisui, you're safe from the ghosts. And Uncle Tobirama would not miss a chance to disturb an Uchiha, even if he was dead!  
> Ghosts are also becoming more present. There is a reason for this.  
> How to know which shinobi is disobeying the Hogake's orders: look for a plant in their room with a ridiculous name, and you will find one.  
> Mr Ukki, the Kakashi plant, is canon. I gave myself the freedom to use it.


	8. Kakashi's ghosts

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Kakashi has three ghosts.  
> They have some stories to tell.

**The one-eyed ghost**

People say some secrets are carried to the grave.

Obito was sure whoever said this did not understand anything about how dying worked, or how difficult it is not to comment on some things, especially when there is so much resentment about them.

And that is one more thing: feelings. Wasn't dying meant to be the end of everything? Finally, have peace and all that yada yada?

In the first few months after his death, there was none of that, just a continuous wave of anger and resentment that made him think of things that today made him ashamed.

And even all of that was about those secrets, those things that are not talked about even after death. As when his friends denied him the quick death he had asked for when he was crushed on those rocks. A kunai in the neck, that was all he had asked for, it was his right as a shinobi to choose how to die. They couldn't go back to him in enemy territory, they couldn't stay without ending up dead, and Obito himself had no chance of surviving.

Today, Obito knew that he had asked for something impossible for both of them. Something cruel and they couldn't do it: Rin's hands were made to heal, Kakashi had found the body of his father who killed himself when he was seven, and Obito was asking him to help him with his suicide.

None of that should have happened.

How could Rin and Kakashi know that Obito would resist much longer than expected and that was why his death had been long and painful? The stones rearranged in exactly the right way to leave him alive and suffering, suffocating and alone. Obito had died so alone.

And then he woke up in Konoha. Filled with fear of his last moments, sadness and resentment at being left in that cave. It was irrational.

Obito had followed them, observed their suffering without realizing it, only focused on those last moments. How they were going on without him, how Kakashi was using an eye that should belong to him, how relieved his clan was that he died.

And why hadn't Minato-sensei saved him? And Kushina-nee had no right to cry for him when she wasn't there when she needed to.

And Obito hated all of them, he shouldn't have died. 

_Kami this hurts so much, stop, stop. Rin, Kakashi, Minato sensei, someone help me please. Kakashi let Rin die, you promised!_

He needed Rin to die and return to his side to put an order in his head, as usual.

(When Obito saw the ghosts that had let this hatred continue and grow, he was extremely relieved for Rin, seeing what he could have become. Even dead he had to escape the madness of that family.)

Rin's death was brutal. For a long time, she put her hand on her chest and seemed unable to breathe, even though technically she didn't need to. Some quirks are carried over after death. There were fear and relief, and guilt for doing that to Kakashi. Obito held her while she sobbed whenever she seemed to feel a bijuu that was no longer there.

Rin's death was even more brutal for Kakashi. Now, more rationally, Obito had a front-row view of the disaster that was Kakashi in self-destruction. When looking in the mirror he saw Obito in his eye, while sleeping he saw Rin dying by his fist.

In the village, people whispered 'the friend-killer, Kakashi' and Obito could see red. No pun intended.

It was seeing Kakashi, hearing him scream in his sleep, washing his hands in the middle of the night trying to clean blood that was only in his head, that Obito understood a secret about death: it happens much more to those who are left behind.

Seeing Kakashi, he saw that he had been one of the lucky ones. There are far worse things than being suffocated. Living in constant pain was one of them.

Obito and Rin followed Kakashi, in an unspoken agreement, even though they couldn't do anything about his choices. At least he wouldn't be alone, even if he didn't know that. 

When Kushina-nee announced the pregnancy they had a twinge of hope. Kakashi had been pushing Minato-sensei and Kushina-nee away, a difficult task when the Uzumaki woman dragged him to their home by force if necessary.

When they announced the baby, it was the first time he went without having to be dragged. Rin and Obito watched him helping to set up the crib, Minato-sensei and him painting the walls while Kushina-nee drew spirals and seals around. At the door of the house, they saw him sew a horrible doll, handing it to Minato-sensei in an embarrassing way.

Obito had never laughed so much in death.

"It's the ugliest thing I've ever seen," Kushina-nee announced, placing it in the crib. "Being my child, I'm sure they'll love it."

Kakashi did not even protest to be removed from the missions and to be placed in her guard, even if it was clear a strategy to keep him quiet in place and away from the suicide missions.

And then Minato-sensei and Kushina-nee died.

**The girl who shouldn't have died**

Rin had carried a lot of blame to her death: having been captured for the first time, leading to Obito's death, leaving Obito behind in that cave, not having seen Kiri's shinobi in that ambush, causing the Sanbi to be forcibly sealed in her.

Most of all she felt guilty for doing what she did with Kakashi, for not seeing an alternative. Rin loved her village and didn't regret dying for it, but she regretted what she did to Kakashi at the very moment she saw his eyes when he realized he couldn't stop the Chidori.

Rin died seeing Kakashi's eyes. She died seeing someone she loved suffering for her, and she would carry that for as long as she was still walking on this earth.

Obito and her weren't sure how long that would be. It was difficult to understand how it all worked, but it was most likely that Kakashi was the reason they stayed. Kakashi still needed them.

When Minato-sensei and Kushina-san died, she despaired at the thought that they would see Kakashi much sooner than they expected. Only his ANBU team being so good had saved him from death; They would not let their captain die, even if he seemed to want it.

He had even been involved with Danzo! Danzo, that Obito had a serious suspicion that had some involvement in the escape of Nibi and in the death of Minato-sensei and Kushina-san.

Rin could only watch the path of destruction, following Kakashi everywhere in a vain attempt to haunt him until he regained his sense of self-preservation.

That is, until that night.

Rin remembered it clearly. Months had passed since Minato-sensei's death, the village was still under reconstruction after Nibi had almost set it on fire.

Kakashi had been removed from the missions by order of the Hokage and placed in the rotating guard, in an attempt to keep him alive. Kakashi was sitting in the tree next to the orphanage's window. The window was open, the cold night wind entering the room without restriction, leaving the child in the wooden crib at the mercy of the weather and mosquitoes.

Rin had not seen Minato-sensei's son until then and she was now ashamed of that. She was so focused on Kakashi and his suicide mission that she had ignored that he was not the only one who had stayed.

She and Obito exchanged a look and she knew he felt the same way.

The baby was crying. He had been crying for a long time, his voice losing strength in small whimpers. No one came, at any time, to check on him.

Rin felt his chest heaving with this; when she realized that the situation was much worse than they had imagined. Rin felt her eyes fill with tears, looking uselessly at what village was doing to the son of her sensei, the Hokage who had died for them.

The village that Rin had died for too.

Suddenly, Kakashi got up on the branch and jumped into the room. Something they knew he had been banned from doing. He could not approach unless in the event of attacks.

Obito looked at her, a smile opening on his face in relief.

When they jumped into the room, Kakashi already had the baby in his arms. A small hand was clinging to his ANBU uniform, pitiful whimpers coming out of the tiny boy curled against his chest.

"Hound." An ANBU with a rat mask appeared at the window. "What are you doing?"

"He is hungry." Kakashi sniffed, a hand passing in front of the baby's face, which seemed to be calming down. "And in need of a diaper change."

The other ANBU did not move.

"You know your orders."

"He is hungry," Kakashi repeated. “Crying with hunger. _For hours_. ”

Another ANBU, wearing a cat mask, appeared in the room.

"What's it?"

"Nobody changed him all day. He hasn't eaten since we started the round. Nobody came when he cried. ”

The others tensed. Rin watched them. The ANBU in the room looked at the baby in Kakashi's arms, both ignoring the other who looked apprehensive.

"I'm going to get him something to eat."

"Cat!"

The ANBU ignored the other at the window: "I'll bring the things, you change him."

Kakashi did not respond and the ANBU was already gone.

"This is forbidden."

"Just if they find out," Kakashi replied, staring at the baby. "Are you going to tell the Hokage?"

The ANBU seemed to ponder this, looking back at the other two on the tree.

“Tell what? Nothing happened here, captain. ”

"I can change the diaper of what is not happening, in that case." One of the ANBU commented outside. 

Obito laughed and Rin shook her head. At least Kakashi had faithful partners.

It was then that she realized, when the ANBU were talking, that there was something very strange in the room.

Rin observed, Obito looking around in alert, his only Sharingan activated. Shadows were around the room with spiritual energy so strong that she felt suffocated.

For seconds she saw just that, just shadows, covering the walls.

One of them was around Kakashi protectively, something that Rin hadn't noticed until then. Was there another one? Another ghost? With Kakashi? All this time? 

"No way!" Obito whispered, pointing to a shadow beside the crib, which seemed to gradually take on more shape in front of them. "Kushina-nee ?!"

One by one the shadows became clear. Some known, others not.

The room was full of ghosts.

"What is happening?"

Kushina-san, after clutching the two of them for a long moment, in her tenderly violent way, pointed to the tiny boy with Kakashi.

"My son is a _badass._ "

**Kakashi's third ghost**

Sakumo's biggest regret was what he had done to his son. He had not only abandoned Kakashi: he had traumatized him, wounded him deeply.

Before that, for years after the great disaster of that mission, he had also not been the best father, far from it. In fact, Namikaze had been the father Kakashi needed at that time and the boy had often invaded Sakumo's home to remind him that Sakumo had a son who still needed him.

After his death, he had not moved on, even though he wanted to see his wife so badly. He had a reason to stay and he regretted noticing it after taking his own life.

Sakumo hadn't been there for Kakashi when he needed it most, but Minato Namikaze was. It was only fair then that Sakumo returned the favour when the tables were reversed. Minato couldn't be there for his son at the moment, so he would be.

The first time he really interacted with the little Sèance was when he was only 3 years old. Sakumo had started to divide his time between Kakashi and the little Namikaze, even though the little boy was never really alone.

There was his mother, always by his side. Her hair like blood and all the protective ferocity for which Uzumaki women were known. For each cruel word of a caregiver, the woman reciprocated with hours of unconditional love, making it clear how much her son was loved, that he carry the name of a proud clan and that his ancestors would be proud of him.

"Little maelstrom." She whispered in the small ear, a fervent voice covering all the hateful words spoken. “My prince of Uzushio. You are not a nameless one, Naruto. Don't listen to that bastard. You are a Namikaze, you are an Uzumaki. You have seawater and the strength of Uzushio's whirlwind in you. Let me tell you your story, about a village on the coast, with its white walls and children who carry seawater in their veins. About the village that exists within all of Uzumaki now. ”

Sakumo also listened, recalling a time when people with red hair like blood visited Konoha, from missions together. How genius they were in their own way, but they had an attention deficit for anything that didn't seem remotely interesting to them. 

Sakumo remembered how the Uzukage had dozed off during a meeting with the Sandaime and he could only laugh when he watched their descendant, who had so much of them despite the colours being all from his father.

There was the Nidaime, in his intimidating glory, but he seemed strangely docile when he sat with the little boy in the forest and told him the story of Konoha. Of how he had seawater in his veins, but the fire in his spirit. How he could love Konoha, despite the way he was treated because this was his home and no one would take that away from him. He just needed to find the people he wanted to protect.

Izuna Uchiha came later, much later. He had emerged after a meeting with the police involving a small fire. Izuna Uchiha was following his descendant but was attracted by Naruto's aura, which was beginning to bring them all closer, the good and the bad.

Sakumo, still silent and close by, almost transparent, had watched him carefully. Madara Uchiha had died with a not very favourable reputation and little was known about his brother, who died long before his time. By Nidaime's reaction, he was even more afraid.

The Uchiha stayed. He resolutely stood beside Naruto, saying that he would not leave him to the mercy of Nidaime's stupid teachings. The little boy had only smiled and asked if he knew how to make fire like the police in Konoha.

(That had been the beginning of the introduction of a pyromaniac to the most dangerous jutsu possible.)

Naruto, years later, had told Sakumo that Izuna was just alone and Naruto had realized this, recognized the feeling. In all these years, more than any of them there, Izuna had wandered. He just wanted someone to talk and be seen.

Annoying Nidaime was a bonus.

These three were the main ones, the caregivers. They were there and wouldn't leave Naruto, with an admirable if not a little scary sense of purpose.

Later they would know that Naruto's proximity, his constant presence, had unexpected consequences. Of course, they would understand it only later.

Sakumo was just an observer until he was no more. He was not like the others, he was almost absent, without a voice, almost always just a shadow. That changed little by little.

When Naruto was three, they figured out why the ghosts who stayed were all shinobi, why civilians always left more easily when Naruto wanted to. Why Sakumo was almost transparent for having spent so much time on earth, but Izuna and Nidaime were not.

In how they were imprints of chakra, and that the more developed the chakra circulation system in life, the more powerful the ghost could be, the more visible and the longer they could remain there before disappearing completely. They finally understood why Kushina Uzumaki seemed to be the most tangible of them. Uzumakis were known for their immense chakra reserve.

[Where could be the other Uzumaki then?]

The problem is: powerful shinobi come in different alliances. Ame ghosts from the third war, in particular, appeared occasionally to harass the son of the man who decimated their battalion. One of them had accompanied a civilian to Konoha, discovered Naruto and spread the news.

They came across an angry Uzumaki woman, an unimpressed Hokage and a sadistic Uchiha on their way.

No, the real danger was not those unsuspecting shinobis. 

Not every ghost could maintain his sanity. Obito Uchiha himself had come very close to losing his reason after death. Naruto not having met someone like that until then had been lucky.

And when he found one, Sakumo was there.

From the encounter, which had ended up with a traumatized little boy and ghosts on alert across the village about what to do if it happened again (call Kushina), they had learned some important things:

One ghost could destroy another. Two Uchiha and one Nara had sacrificed themselves until Kushina managed to destroy the poltergeist.

Adamantine chains and necromancer bijuu chakra were the only things that could destroy this type of ghost.

Even though they were dead, they managed to release chakra and jutsu, but jutsu did not affect the living and the more chakra they released, the more chance they had to disappear more quickly, so it should be avoided.

Poltergeists managed to hurt Naruto. Physically. They could touch him. And that was a big problem.

Finally and very important: a Hatake's nose could feel unexpected things, even after he died. Like poltergeists. And he could sense it before anyone else, even before a sensor. They gave off a particularly strong foul odour. Sakumo had felt it for miles away.

And so, Sakumo became the group's nose. He ignored his son's friend's jokes about him being a watchdog. He was taking care of the son of the man who had taken care of his son.

Most importantly, however, he was helping to keep safe the person Kakashi most cared for, who made him smile in that affectionate way that was so rare in him.

“Sprout! Uchiha, what did you teach him !? ”

"Just a little something."

Sakumo closed his eyes and heard an explosion in the distance, followed by a childish laugh, too adorable for the situation.

"You need more power!"

The entertainment was a bonus.

  
  


**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I haven't reread that chapter yet to fix it, but here we are.  
> This was a long one with many explanations and important points that will be explored later.  
> In the next one comes the best character in Naruto: Ichiraku.  
> The ANBU: Rat is Raidou, Cat is Genma. The other two ANBUs are Yamato (he recently joined ANBU, after Kakashi removed him from Danzo) and Ibiki, who joined ANBU here for a short time before changing divisions. It was Ibiki who offered to change the diaper, he took care of his brother, so he had practice. Genma and Kakashi are the most involved at this point, the others just do not want to get in trouble with Kakashi and do not condone child abuse.  
> And yes, the staff at the orphanage was trying to see if Naruto could starve, but the bijuu's chakra kept him alive and relatively healthy. They stopped after that when the ANBUs reported to the Hokage what was happening when they realized the situation.  
> Shisui was not yet ANBU in that period, he will take over from Ibiki. Later Itachi will also join the group, he only becomes ANBU at the age of 11.  
> The situation about ghosts will be explained later, so I won't go into here yet, I can just say that it won't be Naruto's only meeting with Poltergeists  
> I leave with you an illustration I made of an adult Naruto in Nibi. He maintains a more Uzumaki style than in the canon, with long hair, earrings and body seals. Kushina made him grow up with stories about Uzushio. So wait for a seal master and adamantine chains. .However, he will have less than Minato, so some of his techniques will not appear.  
> That's it, see you! I hope you enjoyed it and let me know what you think so far,


	9. Everything looks better with a bowl of ramen

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Naruto and ramen

**Everything looks better with a bowl of ramen.**

Naruto hugged the potted plant nervously, watching from the darkness of the alley the small stand across the street. Ayame was standing at the entrance, arms crossed. Waiting.

"It's early." He murmured, confused. 

His eyes wandered from the girl to the ghost behind her, who seemed to know exactly where he was. Her eyes, so similar to Ayame's, looked at him expectantly in her fire-deformed face.

Naruto averted his face and hid more in the darkness, his heart racing in his small chest.

It was too early, Ayame shouldn't be there. In the last few months, he had made sure of this whenever he went there to leave a plant at the entrance to Ichiraku. He never came at the same time, he never stayed long.

And yet Ayame was there, waiting.

Waiting for him.

"Little maelstrom." His mother whispered close to his ear, red hair showing at the edge of his vision. "Go talk to her."

Naruto quickly denied, stepping back, his eyes going to the ghost, who continued to stare at him, with her melted, black skin where the fire had caught most intensely. The wisps of hair and the burnt clothes seemed to float in the morning wind.

"You don't have to be afraid, my love."

He was not afraid of her. 

Most ghosts were not like his Ka-chan, Izu-nii and Tobi-Jiji. If he ignored the hole in his ka-chan's chest and the blood on her face, she almost looked like the others. Alive. Tobi-Jiji had died from chakra exhaustion, so he didn't have any visible wounds. 

But, in a shinobi village, intact ghosts were a rarity.

Naruto had grown up around it. If he was afraid, his life would have been more complicated than it already was. So, that was not the problem with that ghost. 

The problem was what the ghost represented. 

"Oh, Naruto..."

Naruto had met Teuchi-Jiji and Ayame when he was still living in the orphanage.

At that time, he was still too small to fend for himself in the forest when they left him outside the building at dinner time.

In the beginning, Naruto was still trying his luck in the market. Even at the orphanage, whenever Hokage-Jiji-sama visited he left some money with Naruto, as well as with the other orphans. Usually to buy sweets during their village expeditions. 

Naruto never bought sweets, however much he wanted to. Not only because it was difficult for someone to sell him some, even with the money, but because Ka-chan had put it in his head that it was better to save for emergencies.

Staying locked out was one of them.

The problem was that people in the market rarely sold him anything, and if they did, they overpriced everything. He wouldn't even know that if it wasn't for the ghosts. 

Sometimes he got something when the salespeople wanted him to leave or when he found someone feeling sorry for him, but that was a trick that could either go right or very wrong. 

Naruto sure hated it when they threw fruit at him.

So, the market was not always an option. The commercial area of Konoha had a lot of people among the stores, most of which he couldn't even pass through the door.

The options ended up being the red light district, with the nee-chans who never turned their back on him in these situations, but Naruto felt bad that they lost clientele because he was there. Or dig through the garbage somewhere, which always made ka-chan sad.

There was the option to ... steal something that was out of sight too.

Naruto was not proud of that moment in his life, he did not like to take what was not his, but Izu-nii taught him that in war everything was fair and, in a way, as much as he hated it, Naruto soon realized that his life was a war. It was the whole village against him and his few allies.

("Don't feel bad about surviving." Izu-nii had said, while Naruto ran with the apple in his hand to one of the alleys. "If being nice doesn't work, you always have the other option. You don't have to be nice with who is mean to you, firecracker.  _ Fight back. _ " )

If Hound-nii was in the village with the other masked men who stayed with him, Naruto had nothing to worry about. Even though he spent the night outside the orphanage, they took care of him as they could. Sometimes, some of them even took him to the Hokage-Jiji-sama tower. However, they were not always there. Hound-nii had been missing from the village for more than three months. And in those three months, everything seemed to get worse.

("Humans call us monsters." Neko-chan commented, their hot body enveloping Naruto on one of the coldest nights of the year, their voice coming out as a comforting purr. "They seem to ignore the truth."

"Truth?" Naruto watched his fingertips return to the normal from the bluish colour, while people who passed the entrance to the alley ignored him on purpose.

"That the worst monsters are the ones that wear human masks.")

This situation did not last more than a few months until Naruto learned to survive beyond the wall and Hound-nii returned. When he returned, Naruto was taken back to the orphanage. 

At that point, he hadn't been in there for almost a month.

(“You have to go to the Hokage, sprout. ” Tobirama-Jiji spoke, his voice strained. “He doesn't know the situation. He will take you back to the shelter. ”

Naruto didn't want to go back to the orphanage anymore, that was the whole problem.)

Until then, until Hound-nii appeared, he went through a few things.

Until then, it was also when he met Teuchi-Jiji and Ayame.

It was on one of these night excursions, smelling the food in the restaurants, but unable to enter, that he first saw the ramen stall. Naruto, already smart about life, never dared to go in there or go through the door, but the smell was so attractive that he watched from a distance.

Ka-chan had assured him that he would be fine, but he wasn't sure. At almost five years old, Naruto had learned not to get involved with traders. He really trusted Ka-chan, but the last few months had made him more afraid of the people in the village. He didn't feel safe inside it, with the living.

Konoha looked less and less like home.

Ka-chan, of course, was right as always. And one night, when Naruto was soaked and watching the small stand, dry and warm and with the delicious smell of something he had never tasted before, Teuchi-Jiji called him inside.

His first impulse was to run in fear, but the man would not let him run. And Naruto was happy about that.

That night, with a towel on his shoulders and a hot bowl in front of him, Naruto tasted his favourite dish and felt a rare warmth that had nothing to do with ramen or Neko-chan, but with the look of Teuchi-Jiji as he ate and the smile of Ayame who asked him several questions and seemed interested in what he answered.

Naruto felt that Konoha could be home again.

From that day on, Naruto found the only place where he was sure he was welcome in Konoha. His savings were spent there, but even when he had no money, he could always do business in Ichiraku: mushrooms in the forest, herbs for ingredients. Naruto did not like to receive anything for free. He wanted to be useful too.

Teuchi-Jiji smiled strangely when he said this, but he always received his offers and brought his precious ramen. Some nights, they even let him sleep at their house when he couldn't go back to the orphanage.

It was kind of like having a home.

And Naruto? Naruto felt that heat build-up whenever it happened.

Everything was just fine.

Until it wasn't.

First, it was the civilians who stopped going to Ichiraku when Naruto was there. Naruto was not a fool, he had noticed the problem, even when Teuchi-Jiji said that he shouldn't worry about it, that the shinobi kept eagerly attending.

Then Naruto found Ayame cleaning the front of the ravaged store, not just once. His visits declined dramatically after that, even when he moved to his apartment and no store wanted to sell him anything, he avoided looking for help in Ichiraku.

Naruto came back, eventually. He was never able to spend much time away. Away from the ramen and away from the small family.

Naruto had gotten used to it. With Shisui and Hound-nii, with the Ichiraku family. He loved his Ka-chan and the others, but there was something different in the company of the living.

Then Naruto heard something, from one of the customers. He shouldn't have heard it, but he heard one of them asking Teuchi-Jiji  _ that _ and it all made sense. And Naruto decided it might be better not to go to Ichiraku anymore.

His eyes went to the ghost of Ayame's Ka-chan, who was looking at him, waiting.

Naruto felt his eyes watering and ran.

...................................................

Naruto's apartment was a small forest. Ferns were hanging from the ceiling, vines on the walls and potted plants everywhere. As he was one of the few who lived in the building, he moved to the apartment at the top and got more space for his garden.

The owner was not very happy, even though everything was empty and Naruto already paid extra, but he said nothing. Naruto had had some problems with him at first, but overnight the man seemed to avoid him at all costs.

("Shisui." Itachi looked reproachfully. "You are a shinobi, you cannot threaten civilians."

"It wasn't a threat, it was a conversation." Shisui smiled candidly. “He tripled the rent without talking to the Hokage, it is illegal. I just reminded him of that. ”

"He changes the sidewalk when he sees you."

“I was convincing. And he should be grateful that it wasn't Kakashi, ”)

There, in his small forest, Naruto was able to relax. Sometimes... sometimes Naruto didn't like to leave. Tobi-Jiji said it was not healthy and compared him to someone, someone he said that seemed to like plants more than people as a child. Naruto didn't know who it was, but he could understand it.

"You can't hide forever." He ignored Tobi-Jiji. He always came as ka-chan couldn't convince him of anything. Tobi-Jiji was very convincing. It must be a Hokage thing.

Uzumakis, however, were known to be stubborn.

"I'm not hiding."

Naruto was still going to the Academy and the forest. Although only one of those things he liked. He wanted to graduate right away, as Shisui's cousin, who graduated at seven, so he didn't have to go back. As things were there, however, he wasn't even sure if he would graduate at all.

Naruto lowered the watering can and shook his head. He didn't like to think about it.

Naruto was almost seven years old, he was already a big boy, he wasn't going to cry because the instructors didn't like him. Or the other students. Or because he didn't understand much about what they talked about.

Crying was of no use.

“You know it wasn't your fault, don't you? ”

Naruto went back to watering his plants and ignored him.

.................................................. .......................

"I didn't know you were a coward."

Naruto looked at the Uchiha ghost with an outraged expression, his small face contorted in a frown.

"I'm not a coward!"

"Uhum." Izuna looked at him with little conviction. "Is that why you're in the forest of death when you should be at home?"

Naruto had seen Ayame on his street. Naruto's address had never been a big secret. The owner of the building had disclosed where Naruto was and people made good use of it by spraying his door.

"I thought you were going to help me train."

Izuna rolled his eyes, wiping the blood from his mouth, but still, he started showing him hand signals.

“If you don't want to talk to those civilians, it's your choice. But don't get depressed about it for that. ”

There was a reason why they never resorted to Izu-nii to convince him about anything.

Knowing how to deal with people was not the strength of an Uchiha.

"Shisui is weird."

Izuna looked at him questioningly.

Naruto shrugged.

.................................................. ........................

It was common for Naruto to go down there in his sleep. After all, it was his subconscious. Which always left him a little confused.

It was a forest, but there were forges, with great incandescent furnaces, smoke and heat. All around, ash was falling from the sky and there was so much destruction. 

Ka-chan had said that it reflected something of him like hers had been a beach because she missed Uzushio so much.

The fire had always been Naruto's comfort, but the desolation around him, the ruined forest around the forges, always made him sad. The fire was comfort, but it was also destruction.

Neko-chan now was Matatabi. Names were powerful and something that was not easily given, the bijuu had said. And yet Matatabi had given theirs to Naruto. 

And Naruto loved Matatabi even more for that.

Matatabi was lying in the same place where he had seen the big cat for the first time; between two forges, with a grid separating the bijuu from the outside, a seal on the door. This prevented Matatabi from leaving but never prevented Naruto from entering, so he went through the bars and threw herself on top of the tails of blue fire, the fire going through his skin without burning it.

The bijuu opened one eye and looked at him, tails curling around him.

They stayed like that for a long time.

Matatabi was always a comfort when Naruto felt at his worst. More than any of the others even. When living in the constant presence of the dead, Naruto had to seek warmth wherever he could, and his bijuu was always warm. It was like curling up in the fire.

He had tried to reproduce this once, to get into the fire, but the only thing he could do was almost kill Hound-nii from a heart attack. He had followed him for almost an entire month after that.

The fact is, there was nothing more comforting than Matatabi, since the first time he could lie there when the big cat called him, protecting him from the cold of the orphanage and the even colder eyes of the people there.

"You are thinking too much." Matatabi cut the silence, the soft voice that seemed to vibrate, making his small body move between the tails. "Humans kittens shouldn't think that much."

"I am not like other humans kittens."

"Um ... It's a point." A tail pulled him from where he was buried and Naruto grunted. "You are more like me than like them."

Their voice seemed terribly satisfied with that.

"But you're still a small human, and humans tend to be stupid."

"Hey!"

"I just say the truth." Matatabi licked a huge paw as he climbed on their back. "You are being stupid now, thinking about these things."

Naruto stopped, leaning against their neck, his body flinched.

It wasn't stupid to him. It wasn't.

“Do you blame me for your parents' deaths? For the villager’s hate? ”

It was abrupt and Naruto exhaled as if he was punched. His eyes widened and his voice came out in a strangled sound: "No!"

Naruto wrapped his arms as far as he could around their neck and squeezed there.

"Well, why not?" Their voice was kinder, softer. "You could."

Naruto quickly denied it, saying nothing. He knew that Matatabi had been controlled by someone, Ka-chan had said that Matatabi had confirmed it.

"When I killed your ka-chan." Naruto tightened his embrace, he wanted Matatabi to shut up. “I was out of control of the damn Sharingan. I acted to not to be sealed again. ”

"I know."

Naruto could understand that. He knew that Matatabi hated humans. It hadn't always been this way. Unlike their brothers, this hatred was not something that came from the beginning. It came with Madara Uchiha, who chased and enslaved Matatabi. It came with the first Hokage and his wife, who sealed Matatabi and hunted their brothers like animals, distributing them to the nations as offerings of peace, as if they were creatures without feelings.

Observing humans through Mito and his ka-chan and, especially, Naruto, did not help much their opinion. And yet Matatabi loved Naruto. The initial comfort was a feeling of obligation. Then that changed. Naruto didn't know how, but he was happy.

He did not blame Matatabi for trying to survive. 

Ka-chan didn't either. And Matatabi gave them a chance to see each other. 

“You don't blame me, but you're blaming yourself for the death of that shinobi in my flames. When I wasn't even inside you yet. ”

Naruto hid his face when he heard that. Thinking that way, it seemed irrational. 

Naruto knew that contrary to what the villagers thought he and Matatabi were not the same thing, but you hear so much something that you start to doubt yourself.

"Do you think..."

"I think you should do what you want." Matatabi pushed him with their nose. "And stop being stupid, but that is in your nature."

Naruto pouted at that.

"Don't worry." The Nibi pulled him off their neck with a tail, throwing him between the big paws and wrapping around him. “I like you anyway. It wasn't your fault, kitten. ”

Naruto gave a wet laugh, both ignoring the sobs.

With all his heartbreak and hatred in the village, Naruto was happy to have Matatabi.

Matatabi always knew what to say.

"It was not your fault."

.................................................

Ayame hasn't let go of him for long since he entered Ichiraku, carrying a potted plant larger than himself.

Teuchi-Jiji just smiled, welcoming him and asking where have him been.

None of them got on the subject of him having been gone for months and avoiding them.

With the ramen served and Ayame leaning against the counter, asking him about the academy and how he was getting by himself in an apartment, Naruto felt a sense of euphoria taking him, his legs dangling on the bench as he told about new seals and jutsus.

"You are going to be quite a shinobi," Teuchi-Jiji commented, pushing extra noodles into his bowl. 

All around, all the plants that Naruto left at the door in the past few months were vibrant. Naruto felt safe inside, as much as at home. 

"My wife was a shinobi, you know?"

Naruto stopped swinging his legs and tried not to look at the ghost next to Ayame, who seemed happy to be watching her daughter so excited. Her eyes looked at Naruto and a smile twisted her fire-deformed face.

“She was one of the best. Chunin. She worked at the academy. ” Teuchi-Jiji smiled wistfully, looking at the bowl. Ayame was silent. "She would have liked to meet you. She would have loved you."

Naruto looked at the ghost, who smiled some more.

("How can you treat this thing like this? Like it is not a monster?" The villager whispered by the counter to Teuchi-Jiji. "It was this thing that killed your wife, wasn't it? She burned for that thing and you now ... What do you think she would think of you? ”

"I think ..." Teuchi-Jiji spoke slowly, quietly and without smiling. Teuchi-Jiji was always smiling. "That you should look for another place to eat, Yataru.")

Naruto felt his eyes burning and looked at Teuchi-Jiji. There was no hate there. There was no confusion between the jailer and prisoner. 

Naruto was just a child to him. His parents' baby.

"I think ..." Naruto looked at the ghost and found the same thing there. She didn't blame him, like the other ghosts of that day.

She seemed more transparent every day. Six years was a long time for an ordinary shinobi. She must love her family very much. Ka-chan said that they knew each other, that Ka-chan hugged Ayame on her lap, that to-chan was their Hokage.

That their story was safe with warmth and Ichiraku ramen.

"That I would like her too."

Naruto was happy to have ramen.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I love the Ichiraku family, and this first meeting of Naruto was totally based on the ending of the anime on how Naruto met the ramen.  
> With a little more drama here, as usual.  
> Next time, we'll have more Shisui and then Iruka.  
> P.S: Everything Teuchi loses from the villagers, the shinobi go there to make up for and eat.  
> Ichiraku is the point of ANBUs.  
> And Shisui totally threatened the landlord.


	10. Never praise the hair of an Uzumaki, by Itachi Uchiha

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Iruka, Itachi, Shisui and boxes.  
> Because for Naruto, it it fits, I sit.

Itachi, at the age of eleven, had some problems to deal with, which should not be the normal problems of eleven-years-old.

Like being about to join ANBU even though he hated the job, his clan was whispering dangerous things about the village, the village's hatred for his clan, a former council-man being paying too much attention to them. And then, the constant fear of something happening to his family, with his little brother, with the village. 

Itachi was feeling _stressed._

In fact, it was such a constant state in his life that he would have been surprised if he hadn't been. Or anxious. Or in constant waiting and fear of a great disaster striking his life.

The problem is: Shisui is the one who was causing him stress, for a change.

Usually, his best friend was there to reassure him, to make things better, but now he was stressing him out.

"Shisui." He whispered, his tone too tired and too old for his age. "Why are you spying on an assistant teacher at the Academy?"

"In fact, _we are_ spying him." His cousin corrected without even looking at him, his eyes following the poor young man at the market.

And Itachi didn't want to have anything to do with it. Why was he even there?

"That," Shisui spoke slowly, entering one of the alleys and dragging him along. "It's Iruka Umino. Chuunin. He usually works in the mission room. He recently joined the academy as an assistant. But you know something funny, Itachi?"

"No, but I know you're going to tell me."

"He is not a normal Chuunin."

It made him more interested, although he still didn't know why they were doing it.

Shisui had returned three days ago from the guard of the Hokage and had just decided that he would spy on Iruka Umino and that Itachi would help him and he still didn't know _why._

However, as usual, he couldn't say no to spending time with Shisui.

This dependence made him a little ashamed, but what could be done?

The young teacher was carrying a bag of oranges in one arm and paperwork below the other and still balancing a box.

He seemed quite normal for Itachi. For a ninja.

And that is exactly what he said to his first and best friend and at the moment cause of stress.

"Normal, huh?" Shisui, proving that he was a true Uchiha at least once and that he loved a good drama, paused. "Normal to the point of refusing a promotion?"

Okay, not so normal. Who refused a promotion?

Itachi assessed the young professor with new eyes. He looked harmless.

Too harmless.

"Oh."

"Exactly," Shisui spoke with a surge of pride that made him smile involuntarily. "Hiding in plain sight."

"Or maybe he just likes the job?" He asked hopefully. Shisui looked at him over the shoulder with a sceptical face. 

Itachi did not think it was impossible. If he had the opportunity he would have stayed as a Chuunin too, but he never had a chance.

"Can I know why you are following me, Uchiha-san?"

When did he get there? They were one of the best shinobi, few could surprise them like that.

The two activated the Sharingan by reflex.

Iruka Umino was at the entrance to the alley, still carrying things and looking at them with a disappointed face that reminded him a lot of his mother when Itachi or his otou-san did something wrong.

Itachi almost cringed and apologized for everything with just that look.

Shisui, however, did not seem affected at all.

"Just checking something." His cousin commented casually, not looking the least bit affected by being caught in the act.

Knowing Shisui, he was not and that should have been intentional. Which meant he wanted that confrontation.

Itachi suspected that this had nothing to do with Iruka Umino's shinobi life, but something more personal. Something that Shisui was not telling.

"Oh?"

"Yes." Itachi could feel the tension in the air, despite the almost polite conversation. "You see, Umino-san, I was curious."

"About? I can't imagine anything I did to get the Konoha police's attention."

"Really. How strange." Shisui spoke casually. A nice smile on his face that was anything but nice. "Does the name Naruto Uzumaki mean anything to you, Umino-san?"

 _Ah._ Itachi should have suspected, of course. Such erratic behaviour by Shisui was usually concerned with someone important to him.

Itachi had long ago given up advising Shisui to be more careful about this situation with the Jinchuuriki due to the clan problems, but by the silence so far about the reason they were there, Itachi imagined that he still remembered that and thought Itachi would scold him.

Itachi didn't know how to feel about it. Even more now, when the other shinobi looked at them as if he were about to attack them.

"And what is your purpose for asking about him, Uchiha-san? "

The tone was terribly cold for someone with such a warm image and the way he spoke Uchiha made it clear that he had indeed heard of the rumours.

Itachi felt his heart race. This would cause problems for the clan. Shisui had to know that.

"I have my reasons."

That seemed like the wrong answer, because of the way the other shinobi narrowed his eyes, his posture getting more upright.

That man was a Chuunin, with no clan, no _kekkei Genka_ i, and yet Itachi almost found himself taking a step back.

"Listen, I don't care about your clan's name or the police or those stupid eyes of yours."

 _Stupid eyes_. Itachi almost took offence.

"If you have a problem with that boy, you have a problem with me. Be very careful about what you'll say now."

Shisui made an alarming sound. 

It was probably not that answer he was expecting.

"So I advise you if you have a problem with him, keep it to yourself. Do you understand? He doesn't need any more problems than he is given."

"Hmm?" Shisui looked terribly confused for a few seconds. Until he aimed at something inside the box the man was carrying. His posture changed so quickly that the two shinobi looked at him confused. "Ah, you have a plant too."

"Too?" Umino still looked cautious, but less threatening in saying that.

Shisui nodded, a nervous, embarrassed smile on his face.

"Yeah. I think we have a mutual friend, Umino-san and that was a misunderstanding."

The man looked at his cousin and then Itachi at length, his posture not yet fully relaxed.

"I believe that we should talk, Uchiha-san."

Itachi sighed.

It would be a long day.

.................................................. .............................

"Then you thought I was causing him problems."

Iruka Umino looked like someone else when calm.

He had a certain presence in him that generated respect, but also relaxation. Itachi wondered what it would have been like to have him as a sensei. Sasuke would probably have him.

Itachi didn't know much to talk about the subject of the two, so he stood beside Shisui in silence while the three left the market district towards another part of Konoha, the neighbourhood of apartments reserved only for Shinobis. It was a little too impersonal for the profile he was making of the man, but he didn't have enough information.

"It would not be the first time that a sensei at the academy would do this or request a transfer of class," Shisui replied. "And you looked furious when you came in to speak to the Hokage, Umino-san."

The man closed his expression a little.

"Yeah, I understand what it looked like."

"And it was no secret that you didn't like him." The man looked at his cousin out of the corner of his eyes, tense. Shisui looked relaxed. "I asked around."

Umino made a painful expression.

"Things change."

"What has changed?" Shisui asked almost casually.

For a moment he thought the man would not answer, but at last, he sighed and nodded, changing direction to one of the alleys.

Iruka looked at Itachi questioningly, then at Shisui.

"He knows. He's from the old generation."

"Okay. You're right about me having problems with him at first, but that was before I met him. On the day of Nibi's attack, my parents ... Well."

Shisui nodded in understanding.

"It was ignorance," the man said sheepishly. "Like a lot of this village, actually. His eyes ..." The man shook his head. "He's just a little boy."

This seemed to please Shisui a lot, a smile opening on his face. Itachi found himself relaxing too, noting the other shinobi's sincerity.

Itachi had his problems about Shisui's relationship with Uzumaki and the problems it would bring to the clan, but it was impossible to spend so much time with Shisui without getting a sense of protection from the boy. And there was still his mother, who, even though she claimed the clan rules more than Shisui, it was still obvious that she was not indifferent to the situation.

Itachi remembered the red-haired woman, he remembered the visit to the hospital after that terrible day, holding his mother's shaking hand and looking at a baby from the other side of the glass.

He didn't even want to imagine what Shisui or she would look like if something happened to him.

"I had my doubts when I entered the academy, it is true, and they put me as an assistant in his class. I didn't want to."

"Was that why you were furious?"

"No." The man's expression was irritated. "I had already had this conversation with Hokage-sama before. That day was another matter."

"But it was about him. I heard part of the conversation." The man looked at Shisui unimpressed. His cousin had no shame.

The young man looked at them for something before continuing, remaining silent for a few moments.

"You care about him." Finally, he spoke, looking at Shisui sideways. "It's not just Hatake-san."

"Do you know about Kakashi?" Shisui now looked very surprised and cautious.

Itachi could understand. The relationship between Kakashi Hatake and Naruto Uzumaki was a kind of open secret among many shinobi. Many people knew it and turned their eyes in the other direction so as not to cause problems with Hatake.

Shisui used to say that Itachi had a complex with Sasuke, but it didn't compare with that of Captain ANBU and Uzumaki. He was probably the only thing that held Hatake in the village and that made him very dangerous.

Umino-san snorted: "He broke into my apartment and threatened me." The man didn't look as uncomfortable as he should have. "He's not very good at being discreet for such an acclaimed Shinobi."

Shisui laughed.

"No, he really isn't."

The man shook his head.

"It's nice to know that he has people for him here." He twisted his mouth and then sighed. "I went to talk to Hokage-sama about his situation at the academy. He lost two years, do you know that?"

Shisui frowned, his expression defensive: "He doesn't ..."

"I know." Umino-san made a sign with his hand. "I didn't understand it at first, but I know."

Itachi looked at them silently. Shisui looked furious, so whatever it was, it was serious.

"They sabotaged him." Shisui murmured. "As he stopped complaining, I thought it was over."

"It's not over, it just got worse." Umino-san started up the stairs to the apartment complex. Some shinobi waving as they passed. He seemed to be well-liked around. "It goes beyond them teaching him wrong katas and stances. That, I realized, he corrects himself. He's ... very good for his age."

Shisui smiled a little at that.

"Unconventional genius."

Iruka gave a small laugh and nodded.

"His exams are all corrected wrong and with very advanced questions for him. There are many accusations of cheating too because he answers those questions."

"So he loses whether he answers them or not."

"There is no evidence of cheating either, but it doesn't matter to the instructors. I saw the answers too, I reviewed all of them." The man said that as if it was nothing, but Itachi figured it shouldn't have been easy. "His responses are a little unconventional and I can understand the suspicion, but they had no evidence and were wrong to put a different assessment on him. They were setting him up to fail."

"Unconventional?" Shisui asked curiously.

"Like a shinobi who has been on the battlefield and not a child who hasn't even left the village." The man looked at him sideways, stopping on the stairs. "Some of them, if I didn't know better, I would say that they came from an Uchiha."

Shisui put his hands in front of the body, a smile on his face.

"I have nothing to do with it. Maybe he got something from spending so much time around the ANBU?"

Umino-san raised an eyebrow.

"Ah, the old rumour that he learned _Kage bunshin_ by observation?"

Shisui shrugged.

"What kind of shinobi won't cheat if they get the chance?" Itachi asked, truly intrigued. It was part of the art, they were not samurai.

"That answer, which was something he gave me, makes me even more sure about it being an Uchiha." Umino-san grunted. "Anyway." He stopped at the door. "I went to talk to Hokage-sama about it."

"For your expression, he didn't give the answer you wanted."

The man sighed, taking the box Shisui was carrying.

"No. Naruto will probably repeat his year and stay in my class as his elective teacher, that was his solution."

"That's not fair," Itachi spoke and the man nodded.

"That's what I said. He's capable and very advanced for his age if he is evaluated correctly. He tries so hard despite everything being against him."

His expression was melancholic, but also a little proud. It was clear to Itachi that the Shinobi liked the boy very much and that he should have spent a lot of time with him to know all of this. Shisui had spent weeks outside the village, this should have happened in the meantime, or he would have known.

"He ... he really wanted to graduate early." The man sighed sadly and then smiled at Itachi. "Actually, like you, Uchiha-san."

"Me?"

Shisui scratched his head and laughed awkwardly: "I talk about you a lot, Itachi. It's not fair, but at least he'll have a chance with you."

"It shouldn't be like that. He's 7 years old, he spent two years at the academy having to learn what he was taught wrong, hearing horrible things, being wronged and being treated like a plague. I'm surprised he didn't give up."

"He's not one to give up."

"He is not." The man smiled at that and then looked at them. "I will do my best for him. I know that due to certain ... situations, you and Hatake-san cannot help him publicly."

So he really knew the rumours. And probably from Uzumaki-san's origin as well.

"I'm glad then that he has you, Umino-san." Shisui's expression was painful. Itachi lowered his eyes with that. He wanted things to be different. "He needs all the help he can."

"He is not the only one who is being wronged in this village." The man smiled at them. "If you need help, you know where to find me."

The offer surprised him and left him shaken. The way the other shinobi looked at him made him feel ... accepted.

Itachi, not for the first time, pondered the type of person Naruto Uzumaki draws close to him.

"He'll probably be here tomorrow after the academy, he decided that I need a vegetable garden."

The man smiled wide at that and Shisui looked less sad.

"Then you will know where to find him, too."

It was an invitation if Itachi knew one.

.................................................. .................

Itachi did not resist as much as he should when Shisui dragged him the next day after training. He still had a day off before another mission, now that he was so close to becoming ANBU.

He told himself that the reason for going was to keep an eye on Shisui and also get acquainted with what would probably be his mission sometimes. Although Uzumaki no longer has ANBU guard, he still needed it on some special dates, such as when people from other villages came and on the date of the Nibi attack.

The real reason, however, was that he wanted to meet the child who was so important to Shisui and who seemed to draw so many powerful shinobi.

The place also seemed safer than what he knew Shisui used to do, which was to visit Uzumaki's apartment or find him in the forest. This looked suspicious and could cause problems. Here they would just be visiting another Shinobi friend.

Umino-san really knew what he was doing. He didn't have a restriction on the boy, in fact, the Hokage had, in a way, given him the responsibility. There was no threatening clan or story that would generate conversation. He could publicly look after Naruto and no one could do anything.

Itachi knew that Shisui was as happy as he was sad about it because it was something he wanted too. He recognized the looks that his cousin gave when Itachi walked with Sasuke or trained with him. Shisui wanted that, but he couldn't even speak to Uzumaki in public without being under suspicion.

Itachi felt sad for his situation, Shisui did not deserve this. It shouldn't be like that.

..............................................

They knocked on the door, which was rare in a Shinobi village, he had to admit.

The surprise is that it was not Umino-san who opened it.

"Genma?" Shisui asked Shinobi with the bandana on his head and senbon in his mouth, who looked at Itachi curiously before nodding to both of them.

"Uchiha. you should have come in through the window, you made me lose money."

Itachi looked at him confused, but Shisui just snorted a laugh and entered without ceremony.

Itachi followed him timidly and cautiously, looking around. It was a small but cosy apartment. The complex was given to Shinobis, so it was generally impersonal, but Umino-san had broken that taboo. There was a parchment shelf, books and a study, and some plants that Shisui looked at with a small smile.

And there were other shinobi there, spread out playing cards or talking on the floor. None looked at them when they entered, but he knew that everyone had noticed them immediately.

"'Ruka is on the porch." The shinobi, Genma, spoke as he sat back on the floor and threw money at one of them with a grunt about losing a bet. "They found a box."

Shisui laughed at that, the other shinobi following him. It should be some internal joke.

Which meant that those shinobi were probably his ANBU friends.

Itachi relaxed a little with that. That's why Shisui seemed calm. No one there would tell on them, because none of them should be there.

Itachi followed Shisui to the balcony and paused when he saw the Shinobi hanging on the counter. He would recognize that man anywhere, anyone in the Uchiha clan knew who he was. Kakashi Hatake.

The man did not look at them either when Shisui entered, his eyes fixed on a scroll. Umino-san was beside him, pointing at something, the two of them more relaxed than they might have guessed in this situation.

Itachi wanted to know what was on the scroll, but his eyes went to Shisui, who was talking to a box in the middle of a makeshift vegetable garden on the balcony.

"Comfortable?" His cousin's voice was casual and Itachi stretched, still not entering, trying to see what he was doing.

"Shisui-nii?" A sleepy voice was heard.

A head came out of the box and he finally saw Naruto Uzumaki.

The eyes were famous, or infamous. As infamous as Kakashi Hatake's heterochromia, but for other reasons. The hair was longer than he thought, making it look dangerously like Yondaime's hair, which was not a good thing.

For a moment, he thought he was much smaller than Sasuke, to fit in a box, but when Shisui reached inside and removed him, Itachi realized that this was not the case, the little boy was just that good at fitting in little spaces. 

_Like a cat._

And just like a cat, he seemed to stretch out in Shisui's hand, who seemed too happy with the situation, lifting the boy under his armpits and pushing him practically in Itachi's face.

"See? Told ya. Cutest child ever." His cousin looked like a proud parent and Itachi finally saw more of the little boy.

He was dirty and wearing a yukata that Itachi didn't know the exact colour and with leaves in his hair.

The eyes blinked slowly, large and surprised by the movement, sleepy.

He looked at Itachi for a long moment. Itachi waved, embarrassed and the boy smiled with a missing front tooth and gave a surprisingly shy (to an Uzumaki) wave.

"This is my cousin, Itachi!"

The boy tilted his face, blushed and then pulled Shisui's chin and whispered (not so quietly) in his ear.

"He has pretty hair."

"I know." 

Shisui whispered in response, just as quietly. 

"Your hair is very beautiful too."

Itachi spoke softly and was gifted with a very red little face, coloured eyes opening in surprise at him as if Itachi had said the most incredible thing possible.

Itachi felt something touch his back and looked back, but there was no one there.

"Thanks." The whisper and hands fidgeting were exactly what Sasuke did when he was embarrassed.

Each instinct of his ignited at that moment, the image of Sasuke superimposing himself on the boy, who was still looking sideways at Shisui's arms, his face flushing when he was caught.

Itachi looked at Shisui who was smiling terribly satisfied, pulling the boy close and hugging him.

Shisui knew he had won the case.

.................................................. ....

It wasn't common for Itachi to feel accepted.

He had always been different and had gotten used to it. To the indifferent and cautious looks of shinobi and civilians.

There, inside that cramped little apartment, surrounded by other shinobi who had so much blood on their hands, he felt strangely welcomed.

Maybe it was Shisui being so relaxed, or the way Umino-san seemed to be welcoming by nature when he wasn't furious. Genma Shiranui was what the others attributed and told him, the person with maternal instinct in the group. Or mother hen.

(Raidou Namiashi almost got a kunai in the eye when he said that).

However, Umino-san had something about him that relaxed everyone and generated respect, even though he was a Chuunin. Even Hatake-san seemed to listen to him, even though he was the strongest shinobi next to the Hokage in that village.

Itachi did not know exactly what had happened when the two men spoke for the first time when Hatake-san broke into Umino-san's apartment. Apparently, Naruto occasionally went to sleep there and when Hatake-san arrived in the village after a mission, he sought him out and found him there, which generated a huge misunderstanding (like Shisui's). Whatever happened, according to Namiashi-san, Umino-san had a new door, a new wall painting and Hatake-san was acting like a watchdog with him. Like now, following Umino-san with a box of scrolls.

(Namiashi-san's comment generated yet another kunai towards him.)

Anyway, they were a strange group. ANBU, Jounin, Chuunin and jinchuuriki, canned in a small apartment, playing cards and cheating and Itachi was not at all stressed, which in itself was a miracle.

It had been a good day.

Naruto was hanging on the couch while making signals to Shisui behind the others, helping him to cheat. Itachi didn't know how he could know the cards from others (in fact, he seemed to know a lot that he shouldn't and it was driving Itachi crazy, but the others seemed to ignore it all and pretend to be insane), but Shisui seemed to trust him and had won two rounds with that.

His face was smooth and the others didn't catch them both once.

_Shinobis._

  
  
  


**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Kushina, watching Itachi's scene praising Naruto's hair: And here we go.  
> And Iruka is here! With cookies!  
> Iruka and Naruto and the act of conquering shinobi. But the truth is that everyone likes Iruka and his apartment is their point.  
> About the academy: Yes, Naruto is cheating when they ask questions that they shouldn't. The ghosts are keen to help him with that, especially Izuna. His philosophy is if you don't get caught, it didn't happen. So Iruka is suspicious of an Uchiha because there is an Uchiha. haha  
> The point is that he is intelligent, especially since he was stimulated by so many different shinobi from an early age. He doesn't think like an Academy student though, but like a shinobi already veteran, because he learned from them everything he knows, so he will always have an unconventional answer to things but have difficulties with more basic things because it skipped these phases.  
> He also has hyperfocus, so he can work hard in one area and neglect another if they don't help him. Thankfully, he has a lot of support, from the living and the dead now.  
> P.S: Naruto is totally going to have a (childish) crush on Itachi for a long time, but that's not an itanaru. He just has the old problem of the Uzumaki having their hair praised and the old problem of Minato seeing someone with beautiful hair and still the old problem of Kushina seeing someone who looks like Mikoto (Kushina had a crush on Mikoto for a while).  
> So whenever someone praises his hair (which he was growing to look like his mother's), Kushina will prepare for chaos.


	11. An interlude for the chaos

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Some Iruka, some ghosts, some surprises.  
> Or how Iruka adopt a cat...I mean, a little guy, and got some extras with that.  
> Like a stupid hound.

Iruka had recently turned 17. He imagined that for a civilian he would still be a teenager, still far from being an adult. For a shinobi, this worked differently. For an orphaned shinobi since age 9, even more. Iruka was self-sufficient for a long time to be considered anything less than an adult, despite what Genma used to tell him.

Genma, who was not much older than him now when he put younger Iruka under his wing when his parents died; bringing orphans into his small apartment when the orphanage was overcrowded for months after Nibi's attack.

“The village is your home, everyone should be a family,” Genma had said. "You are not alone, Iruka."

Iruka, even so, believed that he had been an adult for a long time. Still, he was a long way from being able to at least drink alcohol, but not for the first time in the past few months he felt a strong urge to do so.

"You know, it's not that easy to replace this kit." He grunted, averting his eyes from the other shinobi, exchanging a bloody gauze on his bathroom sink in the middle of the night and almost giving him a heart attack in the process.

Iruka put the explosive tag in his pocket with false calm, but he had been seen. It was a little offensive that this bastard seemed to be having fun with Iruka. And bleeding in his bathroom, again.

Iruka made a pained expression when he saw the extent of the damage from afar.

"Shouldn't you be in the hospital, Hatake?"

"The protocol after a mission is to go straight to the tower and report." The other's voice was calm, even as he tried to suture a huge cut in his ribs. He shouldn't even have any more chakra to try to use simple medical jutsu, something he was sure that such a famous shinobi should at least know.

Iruka rolled his eyes and went into the bathroom. The other shinobi tensed immediately, but Iruka did not stop and pushed his hands away from the damage to see. It was dangerous to approach a shinobi with a handbook of mental problems like that while injured, but he was too sleepy to deal with regulations at the moment.

Because it seems that now it was normal to come across Kakashi Hatake in his apartment in the middle of the night bleeding everywhere. It should be the third or fourth time this month.

Shisui at least knocked on the door when he came and his cousin, Itachi, was well behaved (terribly anxious, but Iruka was working on it. He wanted to go and slap Fugaku Uchiha a few times.).

Kakashi Hatake? He did not know what time was appropriate for a visit, let alone what a door was for.

Of course, Naruto had to have inherited this from someone.

_ Well. _ He pondered, slapping the other's hand away and using the only medical jutsu he knew to close the cut a little.  _ They both have the same bad habits. _

The difference is that Naruto was seven years old and Iruka found his out-of-hours visits somewhat adorable; carrying plants bigger than himself, silently jumping out of his window like a… well, like a cat, just to ask out of the blue if Iruka thought Itachi would agree to marry him one day.

(Iruka was totally trying not to laugh about it. Or to pinch his cheeks when he saw that little guy so anxious to ask about it.)

Kakashi Hatake bleeding on his floor and giving him anxiety was not at all charming.

"And yet, I'm sure you didn't go to the tower yet."

"I wanted to see Naruto." The voice was almost timid. It was rare to have any emotion in Hatake, other than a threat or when he spoke to Naruto.

“Yeah, he had dinner here. It was late. ”

And it looks like that was a pattern now, dinner was just the excuse. And Iruka had no heart to send that child home alone. Not after the first time. He went to visit him when he wasn't even sure if he wanted to be close to what he stood for, and he saw him sitting in front of the door with a bucket and a cloth trying to remove the red graffiti 'monster' at the door. He didn't seem to be succeeding, and based on how many brands looked old there, it wasn't for not trying.

The act itself left him paralyzed in place, seeing the words repeated on the corridor walls of the entire abandoned and neglected building where a child should not live.

What made him angry, however (and sad and ashamed) was how the boy didn't seem at all bothered. Not even when Iruka asked about the strong seals around the apartment, which isolated him from the outside, and he explained why.

Konoha, Genma had told him, was a big family. They took care of theirs. And yet the boy's apartment looked like a prison, a cage, made by himself to protect him from the people of that village. That child had never even been hostile to anyone there, which he thought was a miracle in how he was treated.

(Iruka was not an idiot, he knew that treatment was not just inhumane, but tremendous stupidity on everyone's part. Not only because he realized, it was an unfounded fear, but also because you don't harass the person who is keeping what could destroy them well locked up. That, of course, he only pondered later. At that moment, looking into the eyes he had feared for years, he just felt very sad and angry with the people he swore to protect.).

Iruka was not happy to send Naruto home whenever he visited, following him around the apartment in that silent and distracted way. Was he a bit eccentric? Yes. Iruka occasionally caught him talking to himself and looking at nothing. The air also seemed… strange around him; Iruka often felt watched or had the feeling that there was a foreign chakra nearby. 

He always told himself that it must be from the other apartments, but still, that doubt remained. And there were still things that sometimes seemed to move out of place. Iruka, however, told himself that he was just distracted. Maybe Naruto liked to do pranks? Kami knows that he liked to attract attention at that age.

(But Naruto didn't like to draw attention. He was silent and rarely spoke, always distracted. When he spoke, however, his voice was always soft. Like a cat, when he wanted attention, he always knew how to get it, but a lot of it of the time he preferred to follow Iruka around, holding his shirt as if he feared Iruka would go away or as he feared that he was not... real. Physical? It was strange. But strangely, Iruka was full of affection for it.)

There were so many ... inconsistencies in him, that should make Iruka more scared. And yet, Iruka was not afraid or bothered. Not like before, while listening to the stories (which he now knew were lies) about the little boy in the village. Because Genma had brought him to his apartment and said that the village was a family and Iruka, for Kami, would put that into practice.

(Iruka had a theory about Naruto's oddities. He had a good theory about all of this. But he preferred not to think about his theory. Nope. Not even think about it. What theory? There is no theory here.)

Of course, when he resolved this, he didn't realize that Naruto wasn't as alone as he thought, or how with him would come ... extra shinobi. Like an entire Anbu squad.

"You have to be more careful." He criticized, finishing the dressing with effort. He was never good at that part, he only knew what was necessary when taking care of children. "He cries whenever he sees you hurt."

The other Shinobi made a hurt sound with that and Iruka almost smiled, despite the situation. Hatake was not the ice shinobi he saw in the mission room. At least, not with Naruto. Or about Naruto.

"He told me ..." Hatake admitted, looking hard at the bloodstained shirt. Iruka rolled his eyes and opened one of the cabinets in the bathroom, looking for a yukata that would fit the idiot. "He told me that he wanted to graduate early to go on missions with me and protect me."

Naruto was extremely precious and Iruka felt his eyes watering.

People did not deserve him.

"Then you should consider taking care of yourself." He spoke, trying not to choke on his voice.

He was an emotional person, okay?

"It's not like I have choices in the missions they give me, Iruka."

"Umino-san for you,"

"Okay, Iruka."

Iruka sometimes detested this guy.

However, the information stopped him.

"Hokage-sama?"

"He doesn't have many others to send in SS."

Iruka frowned. It didn't suit him well. Hatake was not that much older than Iruka and had been in this for years. The fact that the Hokage also removed Hatake from the only person who made him less suicidal didn't suit him either. He sent him on SS missions while keeping him away from what any blind person would see that was what left the shinobi with some will to live. Away from Naruto, the man looked like an empty shell.

That didn't suit him.

In fact, it pissed him off.

“Don't think too much. There is nothing to be done. ” He looked up at the other shinobi. Naruto loved that guy like no one. Iruka in the last month had seen the two together when he was not on a mission, sheltering them in those hidden encounters as if they were criminals.

And then there was Shisui Uchiha, who was younger than Iruka, but a shinobi who had fought in the war. Shisui who seemed to light up like a fire jutsu whenever he saw Naruto, finally acting like a child who looks like he never even had the opportunity to be. Shisui and Itachi looked suspiciously in the village for something that was not their fault, especially now that the Uchiha clan had been isolated in the district. 

The Uchiha children in the academy, eating in isolation from the rest while the teachers whispered how the clan had caused the crisis with Nibi.

Iruka smelled the political crisis and knew that those who always paid were the weakest. Shisui Uchiha was not a shinobi weak, but Iruka still felt every protective instinct of his screaming when he saw those two boys so relaxed in his apartment, but preparing for war when they walked out the door.

Shisui and Hatake seemed to be the most important people in Naruto's life and were just the two people he was forbidden to be around and that made Iruka very, very angry. They were blocking the only people who seemed to care the most about that little boy.

And at that moment, Iruka decided that he would do something about it.

"Go take a shower and change clothes." He pushed the towel over the other guy. "I don't want a drop of blood in sight when he wakes up."

"Yes, Iruka-chan."

Iruka touched the explosive tag in contemplation.

Kakashi quickly disappeared from his sight before he made up his mind.

…………………………………………

What Iruka did not know, and perhaps it would be better not to know, for now, is that his small apartment was full.

Kushina was sitting next to the futon where her offspring slept, listening to the conversation with satisfaction. She saw a fire there, in the eyes of Iruka Umino. She knew that nothing would come but chaos from there. Kushina was anxious.

Izuna was, as always, right behind Iruka, looking fascinated by the other shinobi. If she didn't know well she would say that he had a crush. It should be an Uchiha thing, an interest in competent people or something.

Or people with a Sharingan, because Kakashi seemed quite happy to obey Iruka.

Tobirama (she has passed the formality period with the guy after so many times that she wanted to kill him again) was looking at the scrolls on the shelves with interest. Now that the three of them, somehow, managed to touch some things, he seemed happy to fiddle around with what he could and read the new things he hadn't read yet. The  _ nerd. _

Minato would get along with him.

Thinking of Minato brought her the old ache.

Kushina wondered if Minato had managed to imprint Chakra on Naruto as he planned. She had died before he could do it with hers (and maybe it was lucky, or she wouldn't have the strength to be there with Naruto), but Minato lived longer until he sealed Nibi.

Maybe ... maybe this imprint ... Ghosts were imprinted with chakra, maybe there was a way for Naruto to see his father still, even with his soul trapped inside the shinigami. If only she knew how to without endangering the whole village and especially Naruto. Even though the bijuu seemed to be much happier with her baby than with her, releasing the seal would end up killing Naruto at the moment. His body would never support so much chakra.

She shook her head and looked at the bathroom door when Iruka left. Sakumo was around, she knew, even though they rarely got to see him well. He seemed calmer than when he arrived with Kakashi moments before, Obito and Rin close behind, panicking as they always did when Kakashi got hurt on a mission.

There were other ghosts there, shinobi in the building. None of them was Iruka's parents, who must have been gone for years. Most shinobi were unable to stay long.

She looked at the young shinobi, who approached Naruto, crouching down and lightly touching his face, his expression unreadable. Without knowing it, getting very close to Kushina, their hands almost touch each other where she strokes her son's blond hair.

“Konoha is your family. It should be. Anyway ... ”His voice was low and soft, thoughtful. “You are not alone, Naruto. We will not leave you. ”

The other ghosts stopped, looking at the scene with a solemn expression.

Kushina felt her eyes sting with it, the words hitting more than she imagined. Remembering a red-headed immigrant child, a destroyed village. In a way, she realized Naruto was always a foreigner in his own home, as she had been. He was never accepted.

It was the first time someone alive had said that to her son. The others acted but never verbalized it.

Her hand touched the hand of the shinobi, who seemed to feel the cold, his brow furrowing.

She had to speak. she had to thank him.

"Thank you for taking care of my son."

At that moment, he looked up quickly at her, seeming to have stopped breathing. His eyes stared at the wall behind her, not really seeing it, but it didn't matter.

"He heard you." 

Tobirama whispered, looking at the young shinobi who was still staring at the wall with a haunted expression. 

"Kushina, he can hear you."

  
  
  
  


**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Things are going to be pretty chaotic going forward.  
> And in the next chapter, Naruto is going to make some friends at the academy and another ghost will appear in the area.  
> And Shisui and Itachi show up again.  
> And, of course, Iruka starts to plot.  
> I haven't answered any comments from the last chapter yet, sorry!   
> And for those who follow chaos theory, the next chapter is almost finished.


End file.
